Antedating of "Outside the Box" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Dan Goncharoff]

New Yorker story is from August 20, 2007 issue:
"Parallel Play" by Tim Page
DanG


On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 1:25 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Outside the Box" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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