Origin of file 13

Question

Does anyone know when the term "file 13" to refer to the wastebasket was firsr used in the US Army?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Does anyone know when the term "file 13" to refer to the wastebasket was firsr used in the US Army?[/nq]
This was asked not long ago, in this post:

Subject: file 13
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english, sci.lang
Date: 2003-04-22 12:33:57 PST
Does anyone know who originated the term "file 13" to mean wastebasket?
And the subsequent posts showed that no, none of us did. Maybe you could help us by telling us how old you know it to be. Is it being used outside the Army, is that why it's being asked about?

Sorry Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Does anyone know when the term "file 13" to refer to the wastebasket was firsr used in the US Army?[/nq]
It's in the Dictionary of Small Business at
http://www.small-business-dictionary.org/default.asp?term=FILE+13

I can't help with the origin, though.

Skitt (in SF Bay Area) http://www.geocities.com/opus731/ I speak English well I learn it from a book!
Manuel (Fawlty Towers)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]It's in the Dictionary of Small Business at http://www.small-business-dictionary.org/default.asp?term=FILE+13 I can't help with the origin, though.[/nq]
I have it in 'Jackspeak', a guide to Royal Navy Slang published 1988. No word on origin.

John Dean
Oxford
De-frag to reply

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Does anyone know when the term "file 13" to refer to the wastebasket was firsr used in the US Army?[/nq]
I know it to be at least a minute and a half old, because I just now heard of it for the first time.
I once thought of "file under 'O'" and used it a few times, but it didn't catch on, so far as I know. Come to think of it, I don't remember when I last saw a round wastebasket. They all seem to have been rectangular for a long time now.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I know it to be at least a minute and a half old, because I just now heard of it ... remember when I last saw a round wastebasket. They all seem to have been rectangular for a long time now.[/nq]
Circular file was often used euphemistically for the wastebasket. I haven't this usage in a long time , too.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Does anyone know when the term "file 13" to refer to the wastebasket was firsr used in the US Army?[/nq]
This may come from IBM punch card sorters, which had sort pockets for
12 values, and I can't be sure, but some sorters may have had a pocketfor "none of the above".

John W Hall (Email Removed)
Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
"Helping People Prosper in the Information Age"

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Does anyone know when the term "file 13" to refer to the wastebasket was firsr used in the US Army?[/nq]
Well ProQuest claims a first instance of "file 13" back in 1812, but I somehow suspect that that isn't the same sense.

The earliest I can seem to find, which is about as far back as ProQuest's "current" stuff goes, is from Businest First , February 25, 1985:
Correspondence beginning with "Estimado Senor" or some foreign hieroglyphics all too frequently ends up in file 13, because most businesses are not equipped to cope with foreign language.

From the Chicago Tribune , January 17, 1986:
It's bad enough having to wade through all those forms and instructions to pay the taxes without having all that pain and agony go to waste when an IRS computer converts itself into a shredder or some overtime employee decides to reduce his work load with File 13.
So by then it was common enough outside the army that they didn't think it needed explanation. The same month saw
Dear Struggling Artist - forget playing in nightclubs, trade in that touring van and all those outdated amplifiers. Scrap that fuzzy-headed notion of making a career as a performing and working musician. Toss all those wonderful song ideas into File 13.

in the Houston Chronicle . There are only four twentieth century hits prior to that, and all appear to be spurious.

Evan Kirshenbaum + HP Laboratories >If you think health care is
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 >expensive now, wait until you seePalo Alto, CA 94304 >what it costs when it's free.

(650)857-7572
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/

Usenet · Answer

}
}> Does anyone know when the term "file 13" to refer to the wastebasket }> was firsr used in the US Army?
}
} This was asked not long ago, in this post:
}
} From: howard richler (Email Removed) } Subject: file 13
} Newsgroups: alt.usage.english, sci.lang
} Date: 2003-04-22 12:33:57 PST
}
} Does anyone know who originated the term "file 13" } to mean wastebasket?
}
} And the subsequent posts showed that no, none of us did.

I suggest that it showed nothing of the sort, but merely that none of the responders did (if that), which is a horse of a different color. I may take my turn at 2 a.m. sometimes when nobody else seems to be around, but I'd be surprised if too many people bother with threads that have had some attention paid to them unless there's some reason to.

} Maybe you could } help us by telling us how old you know it to be. Is it being used } outside the Army, is that why it's being asked about?

It's at least as old as the 1960s, and at least in the Army, and at least in mixed company when the normal term wouldn't be used. I suspect it was used in ******* . There's nothing about it that couldn't date from WW2; but I'd be surprised if it dated before WW1. Any office with twelve file cabinets and a wastebasket could hardly help but use it. Three file cabinets even. Googling hasn't helped? Here, lemme check Webster's Second. Okay, nothing specific, but "9. Mil(itary) ... c. Colloq(uial) A number or numerical position on the lineal list for promotion." My guess would be that 13 got to be considered "no chance" and was assigned to the circular file. Where's a1a? He'd know if it was in use in Malaya in the twenties, wouldn't he?

R. J. Valentine

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Circular file was often used euphemistically for the wastebasket. I haven't this usage in a long time , too.[/nq]
'Circular File' also in Jackspeak

John 'Don't get started on wagger pagger bagger' Dean Oxford
De-frag to reply

Usenet · Answer

( . . . )
[nq:2]Circular file was often used euphemistically for the wastebasket. I haven't this usage in a long time , too.[/nq]
[nq:1]'Circular File' also in Jackspeak[/nq]
Jack who?

Origin of file 13

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions