Good enough for government work
Or, how what was once sincere is now ironic
Good enough for government work is a pejorative phrase today. But it hasn’t always been! When did the switch occur?
Let’s start by using the Google Books ngram viewer to look at the history of the phrase:
A bit of a peak in the 1940s, a dip again, and then a rise to mainstream starting in the 1980s. Let’s dive in on some actual examples.
1971
The phrases “that’s close enough”, “good enough for government work”, “just within tolerance”, cannot be applied, nor can they be tolerated. In systems wherein a slight malfunction may spell disaster, only the highest degree of quality control will suffice.
- Preprints: 7th Annual Conference, Marine Technology Society
1962
From a transcript of John Glenn (P) in Friendship 7 talking to the Capsule Commander (CC). I’m not sure what to make of this one. It sounds like they had some trouble, but that the situation was definitely good, if not ideal.
1960
How, then, do they keep the morale, integrity and conscientiousness—the old esprit de corps — that continuously inspires them to do their best rather than meet a “good enough for government work” standard?
- The MATS Flyer, US Air Force
Pretty clearly negative.
From there, there’s actually a large gap where nothing appears in Google Books, presumably because of copyright restrictions or something. Finally, we find:
1920
The Pottery Gazette and Glass Trade Review features the following:
(It’s hard not to read this advertisement in an olde-tyme accent, appending
“See!” and a swing of your right arm in an enthusiastic manner.)
So when did good enough for government work become bad? Well, we can say with certainty that it was some time between 1920 and 1960.
More speculatively, my guess is that the phrase fell into disuse in the 1950s, and then reemerged ironically in the 1960s.
And that, friends, is an answer good enough for government work.