[Ads-l] 100 attaboys (UNCLASSIFIED)

[MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (USA)]

CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

_Ottawa [Ontario, Canada] Journal_ 24 Apr 1976 p 24 col 1
["At long last, the mystery of the South Ottawa Rotary Club 'ATTA-BOY' trophy has been fully explained.
As the certificate and trophy explain, the 'ATTA-BOY' award qualifies the recipient to be a leader of men, to work overtime with a smile.  The exclamation of one word (which is censured by this corner) wipes out the advantages bestowed with the award, and recipient starts toward yet another outstanding performance."] 



Alfred G. Santos, MAJ, MSC "An Office Automation Needs Assessment Model" Masters Thesis, Baylor University, Waco, TX, 1985. p. 79
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a209692.pdf
"ten attaboys wiped out out [sic] by 1 aw-- sh--."

St. Petersburg FL _Tampa Bay Times Citrus Times Edition_ 23 Aug 1987 p 2  col 1
"One aw-shucks wipes out 30 attaboys, and we know there's a lot of aw-shucks out there."


_Odessa [TX] American_ 21 Aug 1990 p 9 col 1
"Put another way, a thousand 'attaboys' are canceled by one 'oh doo-doo'".


_Kokomo [IN] Tribune_ 3 Nov 1991 p 6 col 6
"Aw shucks.  One aw shucks cancels all previous attaboys."

Rochester NY _Democrat and Chronicle)_ 8 Jun 2000 p 14 col 2
"Each business or organization I have worked for, from the military to industry to retailing, has made it clear that one 'Oh spit!' can wipe out your entire stockpile of 'Attaboys!' "



Alexandria LA _Town Talk_ 19 Dec 2001 p B9 col 2
"This just reaffirms the old saying that one oh heck wipes out all the atta-boys of dedication to preservation and conservation of our outdoor heritage and habitats."

_Manhattan [KS] Mercury_ 11 Mar 2007 p C8 col 4
"One counter productive act in that field can quickly wipe out several hundred 'attaboys' ".


And, the alternate view:

Salem OR _Statesman Journal_ 8 Jul 1997 p 6 col 
"One 'attaboy' can wipe out 10 'oh-damns.' "



> ----
> 
> Former Lt. Col. Ralph Peters on CNN notes "There's a saying in the Army,"
> which he went on "to clean up for your viewers": "One 'Oh, shucks' cancels one hundred 'Attaboys.'"
> 
> Prosaically, "A single blunder outweighs one hundred laudable actions."
> 
> Less than a dozen Google hits.
> 
> 1995  Edward M. Marshall _Transforming the Way We Work_ [N.Y.: American Management Association] 35: Perhaps one of the most
> difficult work environments is one in which 'one mistake is worth 100 attaboys.' In a constantly changing work environment, it needs to be
> okay for people to make some mistakes.
> 
> JL
> 
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

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