Two men who both claim they coined the expression “Phone tag, you’re it!” will be battling it out in the 417th District Court in Plymouth, Massachusetts to determine which of them will have exclusive rights to the saying.
On one side is George McDevers, a personnel analyst with Boston-based Maritrex. He says he first used the expression on November 3, 1987, during his seventh attempt to reach a Xerox repairperson.
“It just popped into my head,” he says. Thinking the phrase might have a bright future, he immediately had it copyrighted, and assumed he’d be protected if it caught on. And catch on it did, as it’s commonly used in 183 different countries – including Uruguay (Telefono jugaro a pillarse!) and Tiawan (تلفن برچسب! شما آن هستید!).
Meanwhile, Cleveland incidentals analyst Steve Williams also claims he invented the expression. “It came to me in the middle of the night,” he told Incidentals Today magazine in 2013. “I wrote it in my notepad so I’d remember it in the morning.”
His note in the spiral-bound pad – which an ink-aging expert dates to late 1986 – is expected to be key evidence when preliminary hearings begin.
According to business institute LogistiCon, “Phone tag!” is the second most common message left on business voice mails, after “We have an issue.”
“This was supposed to be my nest egg,” says McDcDevers, citing a pending Columbus Records deal for a song based on the expression, to be recorded by a popular British boys band.
Williams has not responded to repeated voice mail messages.
