Antedating of "Outside the Box" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Reviving an old thread . .  .

A Google Books search for "think outside the box"  (delimited to 1900 -
1990) yields a snippet view of what purports to be a 1936 citation from
_The New Yorker_.  I'd bet that the metadata here is screwed up.  But on
the off chance that it is correct (and if it is, this is a pretty big
antedating), does anyone on the list have either the CD-ROM archives or
a subscription to _The New Yorker_ that includes the online archives,
and can you confirm the citation?

Thanks.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
> Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 6:10 PM
> To: Mullins, Bill AMRDEC; 'American Dialect Society'
> Cc: 'ZINGMAST at LSBU.AC.UK'; 'zingmast at sbu.ac.uk'
> Subject: RE: Antedating of "Outside the Box" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> More circumstantial support for the "puzzle theory" origins of
"outside the
> box".
>
> Marjorie Van de Water "What to do about Thinking in a Rut" _Salt Lake
Tribune_
> 1/10/1937 p 72 [syndicated by EveryWeek Magazine; also found in Laredo
TX
> Times, Ogden UT Standard Examiner, Montana Butte Standard, and other
> Newspaperarchive papers.]
>
> "The dot puzzle provides another example of how ironbound the average
person's
> thinking is by preconceived ideas.  Perhaps you would like to try it.
>
> [followed by illustrations.  Illo #1:  3 x 3 grid of dots.  Illo #2
Array of
> dots with line going from center to top center; top center to top
right; top
> right to bottom right; bottom right to bottom left; bottom left to top
left --
> 5 line segments in a clockwise spiral from center outward]
>
> Nine dots are arranged in the form of a square.  The problem is to
join these
> nine dots with a series of continuous straight lines without taking
your
> pencil from the paper.  It is easy to connect the nine dots in the
form of a
> square with a series of five straight lines.  But can you do it with
only four
> lines?   . . .
>
> The answers for these problems are given elsewhere on this page. In
each case
> the solution depends upon ridding yourself of your original notion.
>
> With the dots, if you had trouble with the problem it was probably
because you
> were trying to stay within the square with your lines.  The wording of
the
> problem suggested this to you although a second reading will show you
that
> nowhere is this requirement staled. Let your pencil go beyond the
limits of
> the square and you will have much less difficulty. . .
>
> [an illustration shows the solution]"
>
> While the phrase "outside of the box" does not appear in the article,
> everything that connects the puzzle to the phrase does -- "fresh
angles",
> "keep your mind open", "stay within the square" and other pertinent
phrases do
> show up.  Whoever originated the phrase may have read this article, or
went
> through the same line of thinking.
>
>
> Also . . .
>
> Advertisement [for the book _How to make a habit of success_ by
Bernard
> Haldane, on sale at Brentano's bookstore] _New York Times_, 11/10/1960
col 1
>
> "Are You Boxing Yourself In? [3 x 3 grid of dots]  In this book the
author
> uses the diagram above as a simple test* to show how many people are
putting
> stumbling blocks in their own path by the way they THINK.
>
> *the test is a simple one, just join all nine dots with four straight
lines
> without taking your pencil from the paper"
>
>
> Also . .  .
> "From priest to professional" By Heather Firehock _The Washington
> Post_(Potomac Magazine Section) Nov 14, 1971; p 37 col 1
> "The "class" is asked, for instance, to connect nine dots arranged in
a three-
> by-three square, using only four straight lines and without lifting
the pencil
> from the paper.  [picture of 3x3 grid of dots]
> Seldom can anyone do it.  The trick is to let the lines go beyond the
square -
> - get outside the box.  It's a mind-opening exercise.  Everyone wants
to stay
> within the artificial confines of the box -- which in fact does not
exist even
> on paper."
>
>
> The puzzle also appears in an article on Creative Thinking in the Oct
1960
> Reader's Digest.
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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