twenty-twenty hindsight

[Garson O'Toole]

Fred wrote:
>> The corresponding proverb is included in the just-published Dictionary of Modern Proverbs (Yale University Press):
>>
>> 1949 Van Nuys [CA] News 17 Feb. (a witticism,
>> printed as a filler, attributed to Richard Armour):
>> “Most people’s hindsight is 20–20.”

Richard Armour's statement is nice because it is a generalized
assertion. Below is a slightly earlier version of Armour's statement
in the Plain Dealer in 1948 that refers to the Saturday Evening Post.
Academic Search Premiere EBSCO contains the Saturday Evening Post in
the proper timeframe, but I haven't found the quote yet. Apparently
the OCR malfunctioned.

Cite: 1948 November 28, Cleveland Plain Dealer, [Freestanding
quotation], Page 22-D, Cleveland, Ohio. (GenealogyBank)
[Begin excerpt]
“Most people’s hindsight is 20–20." - Richard Armour in the Saturday
Evening Post.
[End excerpt]


There is a match for "20-20 hindsight"  in a book with a GB date of
1935. I am guessing that the match is really in the preface for the
1969 edition of the 1935 work.

Year: 1935 (probably the 1969 edition)
Title: American messiahs,
Author: John Franklin Carter
Publisher: New York, Simon and Schuster
Page: Unknown
http://books.google.com/books?id=8nyRAAAAIAAJ&q=hindsight#search_anchor

[Begin excerpt]
Even with allowance for 20-20 hindsight, the omission of such names as
Al Smith, William Lemke, Gerald LK Smith, and Colonel Robert McCormick
is somewhat surprising.
[End excerpt]


On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 12:05 AM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: twenty-twenty hindsight
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Here is a variant in 1947: "their hindsight is notably 20-20."
>
> Cite: 1947, United States Congress, Hearings of 80th Congress, First
> Session, House of Representatives, Subcommittee of the Committee on
> Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Boxcar Shortages, Meeting Held July
> 18, 1947, Start Page 89, Quote Page 90, Government Printing Office,
> Washington, D.C. (HathiTrust full view)
> http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.35112104234366
> http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.35112104234366?urlappend=%3Bseq=1664
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> To answer this I need only to direct your attention to the numerous
> inquiries that have been made by both the Congress and the Commission
> during the past half century. The evidence is overwhelming that their
> hindsight is notably 20-20.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 10:39 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: twenty-twenty hindsight
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> The corresponding proverb is included in the just-published Dictionary of Modern Proverbs (Yale University Press):
>>
>> 1949 Van Nuys [CA] News 17 Feb. (a witticism,
>> printed as a filler, attributed to Richard Armour):
>> “Most people’s hindsight is 20–20.”
>>
>> Fred Shapiro
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
>> Sent: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 10:30 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: twenty-twenty hindsight
>>
>> OED has a cite calling this "new" in 1962.
>>
>> 1952 Norman C. Meier & Harold W. Saunders, eds. _The Polls and Public
>> Opinion_ (N.Y.: Holt) 333 [GB Snippet: looks genuine, not verified]:  Gallup
>> and Crossley and Roper and others were just not in shape to have that
>> *twenty-twenty
>> hindsight* beforehand.
>>
>> 1958 Rep. Henry A. Dixon, in _Salt Lake Tribune_ (Oct. 4) 22 [NewspArch]:
>> Twenty-twenty hindsight regarding national security is easy.
>>
>> JL
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org