Headshot of actor Errol Flynn, c.1945
11 February 2021
The Americanism in like Flynn means all is set, success is certain. In that way, it is akin to the British Bob’s your uncle. The phrase dates to the early 1940s and has long been associated with the actor Errol Flynn, although there is evidence that this association is after the fact and that the phrase developed in the San Francisco Bay Area as a form of rhyming slang.
The earliest known use of the name Flynn in this context was discovered by word sleuth Barry Popik in the papers of another word sleuth, San Francisco’s Peter Tamony. Tamony’s papers include a usage citation given him by his sister Kathleen, dated 3 July 1940, which reads:
"Your name is Flynn...you're in." Official of BILLY ROSES's "Aquacade"—Golden Gate International Exposition—to party of people, telling them that they would receive passes for 9 pm. show.
(Popik thought the reference to the Golden Gate International Exposition was an error, as Billy Rose’s Aquacade was performing at the New York World’s Fair at the time, but Rose had two productions of his show going simultaneously, one in New York and one in San Francisco. Tamony’s note is undoubtedly correct and refers to the California production.)
The next known appearance in print of your name is Flynn...you’re in is from the sports section of the San Francisco Examiner of 8 February 1942:
Being at wit’s end for your usual big, meaty Sunday theme we are devoting part of today’s column to a questionnaire especially prepared to test applicants for commissions in the Stockton Street tunnel ski patrol.
Answer these questions correctly and your name is Flynn, meaning you’re in, provided you have two left feet and the consent of your parents.
Tamony would weigh in on the subject a year later, writing in the San Francisco Call-Bulletin of 9 February 1943 and providing the earliest in-print example of the phrasing in like Flynn:
SEEMS AS though my guess about the derivation of the phrase, "I'm Flynn" wasn't altogether correct. I said it meant one was all set, ready, fixed, etc.—and that's right. But two correspondents, O.B. and John O'Reilly agree that it began with some such phrase as "Well, I'm in like Flynn." Finally, you were "in, Flynn." Now it's just "I'm Flynn." The reverse of the phrase is not common, but it started with "I'm out like Stout," which was shortened to "out, Stout" and is now "I'm Stout" (meaning things aren't so good).
This rhyming slang explanation is plausible, but no one has turned up other examples of the stout counterpart, and testimony (e.g., from the two correspondents) without actual citations of use is questionable. I would label this explanation as possible, but unconfirmed.
An article in the U.S. Marine Corps magazine Leatherneck https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/leatherneck from March 1945 has this story, with a passage about a marine taking his girlfriend to the track and betting on a horse named Hogan’s Goat:
So, I put the works on Estrellita’s nose. Then I went back to Dixie.
As I sat down, she looked at me and said: “It’s in?”
“In like Flynn,” I said. I decided for no good reason, to let her think Hogan’s Goat was still our baby.
It seems in like Flynn grew in popularity among U.S. servicemen during World War II. In addition to this Marine Corps reference, the phrase appears in lists of Army and Air Force slang that were published shortly after the war. But it also was popular in sports writing, used to denote an easy win or victory. From the San Francisco Chronicle of 14 July 1946 that bears the supertitle “We’re in Like Flynn”:
The chunky ex-New York Giant chattel, displaying an explosive curve, an intelligently employed change of pace, and an occasional fast ball, was never in trouble. He limited the visitors to single blows in the second, third, fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth frames, and was in like Flynn as early as the third when mates stakes him to a 3–0 lead.
The association with Errol Flynn is first recorded later in 1946, when it appears in a list of Air Force slang terms in the journal American Speech:
IN LIKE FLYNN. Everything is O.K. In other words, the pilot is having no more trouble than Errol Flynn has in his cinematic feats.
In addition to his swashbuckling feats in front of the camera, Flynn was well known as a “ladies man,” and it is often thought that in like Flynn has an innuendo of success at sexual conquests. Furthermore, in late 1942 the actor was accused of statutory rape by two female seventeen-year-olds. In the January-February 1943 trial, Flynn’s defense impugned his accusers’ moral character, and he was acquitted. Regardless of the actual facts of the case, the trial was widely perceived as yet another example of a rich and famous man using his privilege to avoid punishment. Flynn had managed to avoid criminal penalties, but his reputation and career were permanently damaged. While he would continue to act until his death in 1959, his star power and financial resources faded considerably.
It may be that in like Flynn was originally inspired by Errol Flynn’s on-screen persona and perhaps his off-screen sexual exploits, but the rape allegations and trial cannot be the origin of the phrase; as we have seen, the phrase was already well established before that occurred. There is no doubt, though, that the actor’s reputation contributed to the popularity of the phrase.
Sources:
Decker, Duane. “Hogan’s Goat.” Leatherneck, 28.3, March 1945, 19. ProQuest: Trade Journals.
Green’s Dictionary of Slang, 2021, s.v. in like Flynn, phr.
Miller, Edwin H. “More Air Force Slang.” American Speech, 21.4, December 1946, 310. JSTOR.
Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, December 2004, s.v. Flynn, n.
Popik, Barry. “In like Flynn; Run for the Roses; Yoot.” ADS-L, 13 June 1999.
Stevens, Bob. “We’re in Like Flynn: Seals Slaughter Pathetic Padres for 8th Straight.” San Francisco Chronicle, 14 July 1946, 33. Newsbank: America’s Historical Newspapers.
Sullivan, Prescott. “The Low Down.” San Francisco Examiner—Sports, 8 February 1942, 2. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
Photo credit: Unknown photographer, c.1945. Public domain image. National Library of Australia.