|
|
A no-brainerMeaningSomething that requires little mental effort or intelligence to perform or understand. The term is often applied to decisions which are straightforward or sometimes to people who appear to lack intelligence. Origin
The first example of the term with the 'easily made decision' meaning is from the Canadian newspaper The Lethbridge Herald, January 1968, from a report on an ice-hockey game:
The application of 'no-brainer' to individuals came later, after the term was already well-established; for example, this from Tom Alibrandi's 1979 novel Killshot:
See other phrases that were coined in the USA. Phrasefinder is also on
Tudor Phrases and Sayings - a book on the meanings and origins of the phrases and sayings that Shakespeare and Henry VIII used that we use still use every day. |
No-brainer is American in origin and first began being used there in the 1950s. The first example that I've found of its use in the 'requiring little mental effort' sense is this 'The Berrys' cartoon, by Carl Grubert. It appeared in the Long Beach Independent, December 1959:
