From Cora Finch, J. Lobdell, Troubled Individual,
and John Lee in Pittsburgh

Arthur Sheehan wrote in an earlier message:

> I don't see any cause and effect association
> between the IBM and AA slogans - it's seems
> like speculation. Is there a non-anecdotal
> source for corroboration that it "... was
> adopted by AA members from a sign that came
> with early IBM calculating machines ..."
>
> T J Watson Sr coined the slogan "Think" in 1911
> long before the forerunner companies evolved
> into the name "International Business Machines"
> in 1924. The slogan consisted simply of the
> single word "Think."

I tried the old indiscriminate-search technique on this problem. Repetition of
the word "think" for emphasis appears early, e.g. a Ben Jonson play from the
1600s, where a character tells another to "think think think think", but of
course that is not in any sense a slogan.

In 1909, in a book on American authors, this sentence appears: "To produce vital
and useful criticism it is necessary to think think think and then when tired of
thinking, to think more." I've seen that exact sentence quoted in at least one
other book (with the author's name--W.C. Brownell). The phrase "think think
think" or "think think and think" seems to have developed a life on its own over
the next few decades. It showed up in several letters to the editor in the
1950s-60s.

One 1950s article about IBM made it clear that each sign was just one word, but
described the effect of multiple signs as, "Think . . . Think . . . Think," in
the sense that the occupant of room with several such signs would experience it
as repetitive. So it would be entirely understandable if the previous
literary/expository repetitions of the word combined with the IBM use of
one-word signs to create a slogan.
Cora

- - - -

From: "J. Lobdell" <jlobdell54@...>
(jlobdell54 at hotmail.com)

Arthur Sheehan wrote:

> I don't see any cause and effect association
> between the IBM and AA slogans - it's seems
> like speculation. Is there a non-anecdotal
> source for corroboration that it "... was
> adopted by AA members from a sign that came
> with early IBM calculating machines ..."

It depends on whether one considers Clarence Snyder's recollections (as recorded
by Mitchell K.) as purely anecdotal or as an historical source. Myself, as an
historian, with a Ph.D. in (Applied) History, and having produced a number of
books based on transcriptions of dictated memoirs, and having some years ago
done at paper for the Oral History Association on the value of such
transcriptions, I'd call Clarence's story of the IBM connection pretty good
evidence -- certainly in the absence of evidence to the contrary. So -- if not
history, at least an historical source. Of course, we know that even Bill W's
accounts of the early history of AA -- even Dr. Bob's DLD -- are subject to
question (and Jimmy B. recorded that Dr Bob, perhaps not counting the beer Bill
gave him, counted his sobriety from June 15 not June 10 -- hearsay but not
anecdotal).

- - - -

From: Troubled Individual <addicttedone@...>
(addicttedone at yahoo.com)

I got sober in a clubhouse here in Atlanta, many years ago I'm quite thankful
for, and they had to sign "THINK THINK THINK" posted on one of their walls.
Right across the room was a sign saying "DON'T THINK, DONT DRINK, and GO TO
MEETINGS." I used to sit and stare at those two signs wondering how these
"fools" could site here day after day, week after week and not realize this
oxymoron. Don't worry, I got better and I'm not sure if the signs still remain
in the building like that or not. Let's hope so.

- - - -

From: "johnlawlee" <johnlawlee@...>
(johnlawlee at yahoo.com)

"Think the drink through" is heard regularly at AA meetings, but it's absent
from the AA literature. It's another popular cliche scattered by treatment
centers. There's a large group of people who can think the drink through--these
people are called "non-alcoholics". A serviceable lay definition of "alcoholic"
would be "someone who cannot reliably think the drink through." The Big Book
assures us, at page 24, that a real alcoholic cannot bring into consciousness
with sufficient force the humiliation of a week ago. Page 43 indicates that, at
certain times, the real alcoholic has no effective defense against the first
drink. He has placed himself beyond human power, so that memory, knowledge, fear
and fellowship will not protect him from the first drink. If drunks were able to
reliably think the drink through, they'd never need the Steps or spiritual
experience, only a desire to stop drinking.
John Lee
Pittsburgh