In like Flynn

"In like Flynn" is a slang phrase meaning "having quickly or easily achieved a goal or gained access as desired".

For the film, see In Like Flynn (film).
Not to be confused with In Like Flint.

Origins

Barry Popik of the American Dialect Society found an example from 1940, as well as this from the sports section of the San Francisco Examiner of 8 February 1942: “Answer these questions correctly and your name is Flynn, meaning you’re in, provided you have two left feet and the written consent of your parents”. To judge from a newspaper reference he turned up from early 1943, the phrase could by then also be shortened to I'm Flynn, meaning “I’m in”.[1]

In later years, the rhyming phrase became associated with actor Errol Flynn, who had a reputation for womanizing, consumption of alcohol, and brawling. In November 1942, two under-age girls, Betty Hansen and Peggy Satterlee, accused him of statutory rape.[2] A group was organized to support Flynn, named the American Boys' Club for the Defense of Errol Flynn (ABCDEF); its members included William F. Buckley Jr.[3] The trial took place in January and February 1943, and Flynn was cleared of the charges. According to etymologist Michael Quinion, the incident served to increase Flynn's reputation as a ladies' man, which influenced the connotations of the phrase "in like Flynn".[1] Columnist Cecil Adams also examined the term's origins and its relationship to Flynn. Many early sources, attesting the phrase, say it emerged as war slang during World War II.[4]

In addition to the Errol Flynn association, etymologist Eric Partridge presents evidence that it refers to Edward J. Flynn, a New York City political boss who became a campaign manager for the Democratic party during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency. Boss Flynn's "Democratic Party machine exercised absolute political control over the Bronx.... The candidates he backed were almost automatically 'in'."[5]

Quinion also notes that the title of the film In Like Flint (1967) is a play on the term, and that has led to a malapropism where some speakers believe that is the original phrase.[1]

References
  1. Quinion, Michael (December 9, 2000). "World Wide Words: In like Flynn". Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  2. "Statutory Rape Charges". Today.com. 1 March 2005. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
  3. Valenti, Peter (1984). Errol Flynn: A Bio-Bibliography. ISBN 978-0-313-22984-8.
  4. Adams, Cecil (September 6, 1996). "Does 'in like Flynn' refer to Errol Flynn's success with women?". The Straight Dope.
  5. Partridge, Eric (1986). A Dictionary of Catch Phrases. Routledge. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-415-05916-9.

Further reading
  • Peters, Pam (2007). "Similes and other evaluative idioms in Australian English". In Skandera, Paul (ed.). Phraseology and Culture in English. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 235–56. ISBN 978-3-11-019786-0.
  • Taylor, E. W. (1994). "Intercultural Competency: A Transformative Learning Process". Adult Education Quarterly. 44 (3): 154–174. doi:10.1177/074171369404400303.
  • Reed, Vicki A. (September 1991). "What Crocodile Dundee Never Told Us: Speech-Language Pathology in Australia". American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 1: 11–2. doi:10.1044/1058-0360.0101.11.
  • Riordan, John Lancaster (October 1947). "Some Notes on Army Slang". American Speech. 22 (3): 212–6. doi:10.2307/3181800. JSTOR 3181800.
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