I have been unable to find the origin of the phrase "close enough for government work." While it is now derogatory and suggestive of sloppy work, I was under the impression it originated with a meaning just the opposite due to stringent specifications for government construction contracts.

Can you provide any references for its origin?

Rob

Phrase Origins.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/31/messages/103.html

At http://www.rabble.ca/babble/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=14&t=000404, a discussion forum at Babble, scroll down to Jim Rodger's post.

He sez: "'Close enough for government work.' (First heard from artillerymen of the 4th Infantry Division, An Khe, Vietnam, 1970, upon shelling the wrong village or trail or whatever.)"

I have not been able to verify this elswhere.

I worked at Raytheon in Andover Massachusetts between 1960-1964.

I worked on the Army Hawk Missile system, and the expression "Close enough for Government Work" was being used in a derogatory manner at that time.

"close enough for government work" - A theory, plus questions
(continuing search for knowledge.)

A book came out a few years ago: "Measuring America: How an Untamed
Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promise of
Democracy", by Andro Linklater. (Interesting book; I'll re-read it some-
Time.) It's about how they established the system of weights and measurements and how the U.S. was surveyed. Anyway, two points emerged which might be relevant to the question. (To the best of my recollection. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

1) When Mason and Dixon were hired to survey the border between
Pennsylvania and Maryland by the two (then colonial) legislatures, they
Were allowed enough time and money to do the job right, using then
"state-of-the-art" equipment, which was pretty good. The Mason-
Dixon Line is still pretty much okay.

2) The Ohio Territory was an entirely different story. When the
Constitution was ratified and the U. S. government was formed in 1787-
1789, the government had huge financial problems and the only source
Or ready money was the Ohio Territory. So, the guys who surveyed
The Ohio Territory were under intense political and financial pressure to
Get something, anything done somehow, someway, so that the government could sell the land to businessmen who could sell it to somebody else and everyone could make money. But the surveyors
Were looking at dense woods, mountains, valleys, etc. They didn't
Have the time and money that Mason and Dixon had. They got sloppy.
They guessed at some stuff. They had to.

Could this be the origin of "close enough for government work"?

Or, the Civil War was seventy years later, and there was a lot of second- or third- or fifteenth-rate work in that, some because of the need for speed and some due to outright criminality. (As I recall, the
Word "shoddy" came from that.)

Is the phrase peculiar to the U. S. If somebody can find that
Phrase in England or France or Poland or China two hundred years
Earlier, then both my guesses are wrong. Regards JW

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