[Dixielandjazz] In like Flynn

[Jerry Gordon]

On Sat, 11 Jan 2003 04:02:06 -0600 "Patrick Cooke" <patcooke@cox.net>
writes:
> 
> 
> Jeannie asks:
> >>she used the phrase "in like Flynn" and I read >somewhere that 
> referred to
> Errol Flynn working his >charm and bedding the girls. Does anyone 
> know if
> this is >true?

>            Yes, it's true.
>            Pat Cooke


Welll, almost. In Hendrickson's "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase
Origins," it says,"Chicago's Boss Flynn's machine never lost an election
and was always "in office," inspiring the the expression "in like Flynn,"
meaning to have it made. The popularity of movie actor Errol Flynn and
his amorous activities helped popularize the phrase in the early 1940s."

You'll find other opinions at http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-inl1.htm
and http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxinlike.html and
http://www.idiomsite.com/inlikeflynn.htm and others, I'm sure. (Yeah,
Google!)

Jerry Gordon, Troy, NY - Web master for
http://www.timesunion.com/communities/jazz