Henry Kelly’s Legacy?
I was reading BBC News Online last week (I see it when I sleep now) and a serious news story used the phrase “playing catch up”. This got me thinking, where did this actually originate? I can remember in the late 80s coming home from school and “Going for Gold” would be on BBC, and Henry Kelly (above) would constantly say “Hans you’re playing catch-up” or “Patrick you’re playing catch-up”, with the bland European feel of the show making it some kind of EU wet dream.
Thing is, I don’t really think this stupid phrase was invented by Henry Kelly on “Going For Gold”, but I’d love to know when it first began to be used. I can’t say I’m a big fan.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:21 am
The OED has it listed with that usage by the New York Times in 1965:
[1965 N.Y. Times 25 Oct. 49/1 The New York quarterback soon found himself having to play catch-up football.]
and as a noun in 1918:
1918 Q. Jrnl. Econ. 32 645 The assumed catch-up in prices must somehow change precipitately back into a lag.