[Lancey Howard]

Another question about the documents occurred to me last night (I don't know if this one has already been asked).

I am 50+ yrs. old and I do not remember the phrase "cover your a$$", and especially the abbreviation "CYA", being in common use in the early '70s. I have checked various 'lexicon' and 'phrase-and-word-origin' sites but I have come up with nothing definitive yet.

If anybody knows where to check for when the phrase "cover your a$$" and its abbreviation came into common useage in the US, it might be helpful. I don't know if it was used in the military before making it to the mainstream, but I have smelled something fishy about the title of that one memo since I first saw the copy of it posted.

Thanks.

[AndyJackson]

CYA was common in the Navy in the mid-seventies when I was on active duty. What was never used, however, was the notion of writing a "CYA" memo to file.

[Renatus]

I went to Vietnam in 1968 and remember that it was commonly
used when I was there. Vienam service 68-69 and 70-71,

[muir_redwoods]

I first heard the expression used by a recently discharged Air Force veteran in about 1972. I was in college working a bunch of part-time jobs and he was a new hire in the printing warehouse where I worked. I graduated in 1973 and went to work for a printer where, coincidentally, I used an IBM Composer.

No one would have used this IBM beast for typing memos, its only purpose was to set type for camera-ready art work. It was a pain to use but it did proportionally space type. I have a Selectric I Typewriter in the basement still and it does allow one to choose 10 or 12 pitch spacing but in either pitch, the letters are evenly spaced.