# In like flint expression

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-like-flint-expression/2426>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 10, 1999, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-like-flint-expression/2426 "1999-08-10T14:18:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kayak\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7993a0/32.png) [@kayak\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayak_guy)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 1999, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-like-flint-expression/2426/1 "1999-08-10T14:18:00Z")

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Does anyone know the origin of ‘In like Flint’? where is it normally used in day to day speech?

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**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 1999, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-like-flint-expression/2426/2 "1999-08-10T14:32:00Z")

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Check the archives for “In like Flynn”.

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**Author:** ![jayron\_32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@jayron\_32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayron_32)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 1999, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-like-flint-expression/2426/3 "1999-08-10T14:40:00Z")

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Unca Cece covered it. The expression is “In Like Flynn” and Erol Flynn, the Robin Hood actor, liked to have sex with teenage girls. Thus, to score is to be “in like Flynn” but the expression has now come to refer to success in any morally dubious activity.

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Jason R Remy

“Open mindedness is not the same thing as empty mindedness.”  
– John Dewey _Democracy and Education_ (1916)

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**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 1999, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-like-flint-expression/2426/4 "1999-08-10T14:42:00Z")

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Cecil knows all so of course he knows of this, and covered this topic in great detail in a couple of his Straight Dope ™ books. (As an implied price of admission to this board, maybe you should pick up your own copies).

Luckily two of Unca Cece’s “In Like Flynn” columns are available on-line: [Does ‘in like Flynn’ refer to actor Errol Flynn?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/960906.html), and [In like Flynn (cont’d)](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/961115.html).

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**Author:** ![JoeyBlades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@JoeyBlades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyBlades)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 1999, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-like-flint-expression/2426/5 "1999-08-10T15:14:00Z")

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“In Like Flint” was the name of a movie with James Coburn. It was a James Bond like spoof and, of course, the title was selected to remind people of the expression “In Like Flynn”.

By the way, I don’t mean to cast doubt on the sanctity of Cecil’s suppositions about the meaning of “In like Flynn”, but I’ve always been told that it referred, not to his sexual escapades and success, but rather to the swashbuckling grand entrances he always made in his movies. This certainly matches more closely to the contexts that I’ve always heard the expression used.

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 1999, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-like-flint-expression/2426/6 "1999-08-10T20:38:00Z")

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To paraphrase Forrest Gump: Handsome is as handsome does.