“In Like Flynn” Origins

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Colin from Sheridan, Wyoming.

Colin, welcome to the show. What’s up?

At my old job, my boss and I would kind of have a circular discussion about this particular phrase.

And the phrase is, in like Flynn.

So whenever we would win a project, I would say, great, we’re in like Flynn.

And my boss would look at me and say, Flint, as in we are in like Flint,

Which was a version of a phrase I had never heard.

And oftentimes he would confer with a woman who worked in our office who is of similar age.

And she would agree with him that the correct phrase is in like Flint.

So I have three questions.

Which is the correct phrase, if there is a correct one, or are they both correct?

And if the latter is the case, which phrase is earlier, and is there a generational variation thing going on here?

Interesting that you asked about the generational variation.

Because I was going to ask when you said they were of similar age, what does that mean?

I was in my 30s at the time, and I think both my boss and the other woman were about in their 50s or so.

Interesting. I would have expected it to go the other way, actually.

Well, there was a film in 1967 called In Like Flint.

It was a kind of spy spoof, and so they might be thinking of that, but the phrase In Like Flint is much older than that.

A lot of people associate it with Errol Flynn, the Hollywood actor who was sort of famous for his drug taking and drinking and sexual exploits.

And to the point where he was tried for statutory rape in the 1940s.

But, but, but, but, that is not the origin of it because the expression was around longer than that.

Yeah, the expression was around before he had the rape trial, which he was absolved of.

He was acquitted.

Also interesting is the sexual connotations of In Like Flint didn’t appear until the 1970s.

It sounds like you’re using it in a non-sexual way, but that’s just worth noting.

So he may have popularized the term, his legal case, and he was a big star.

Australian, I believe.

Right, Australian.

He was a big star, and his trial certainly may have brought the term to mind and to the fore.

But it existed in print.

We have citations before the whole thing happened of it being used.

But the In Like Flint thing, I think I’m with you, Martha.

The film from 1967 with James Coburn, that was probably what popularized In Like Flint.

But it’s never been that common at all.

It’s still really rare compared to In Like Flint.

So In Like Flint goes back to at least the early 40s.

And some people have speculated that maybe it’s just sort of rhyming slang.

And the researcher Barry Poppick found it from 1942 in a newspaper article where somebody wrote,

Answer these questions correctly, and your name is Flynn, meaning you’re in,

Providing you have two left feet and the written consent of your parents.

So it’s been around for a while.

But, no, you can rest assured that you are correct.

Oh, cool. Well, thank you.

Thanks, Colin. Really appreciate it.

Thanks, Colin. Bye-bye.

So just to be clear, because I know we’re going to get a ton of phone calls and e-mails about this.

We believe, as do everyone who’s looked into the term, every etymologist that we know,

Every word researcher, every word historian,

That in like Flynn does not originate with Errol Flynn.

No.

Although his rape trial may have popularized it.

Yes, probably did popularize it.

Probably did popularize it because he was a big star.

But it existed before his rape trial,

And it was just that convenient rhyming slang.

Correct.

Great.

So you can stop writing that email you’re composing.

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