# Origin of "Coincidence -- I think not!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-coincidence-i-think-not/324262 "2005-09-30T21:57:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-coincidence-i-think-not/324262/41 "2013-02-13T21:23:45Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Found it in a Radford, VA. newspaper column in 1973. Just some local guy using it. > > So, it certainly existed by then.. Again, google books shows cites going back to the mid-19th century. It seems to have been a common phrase in academic and scholarly periodicals going back a century and a half ago. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-coincidence-i-think-not/324262/42 "2013-02-14T00:04:13Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Again, google books shows cites going back to the mid-19th century. It seems to have been a common phrase in academic and scholarly periodicals going back a century and a half ago. I’m confused. Are you saying that the entire phrase “Coincidence? I think not.” appears in books and articles before, say, 1950? I think not. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-coincidence-i-think-not/324262/43 "2013-02-14T02:42:02Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > I’m confused. Are you saying that the entire phrase “Coincidence? I think not.” appears in books and articles before, say, 1950? I think not. [Here you go](http://www.google.com/search?q=coincidence%2C+i+think+not&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1#hl=en&tbo=d&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min%3A1800%2Ccd_max%3A1899&tbm=bks&sclient=psy-ab&q=%22coincidence%2C+i+think+not%22&oq=%22coincidence%2C+i+think+not%22&gs_l=serp.3...61615.64950.0.65367.2.2.0.0.0.0.1019.1019.7-1.1.0...0.0...1c.1.3.psy-ab.s0KggImPRfk&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42452523,d.b2I&fp=768090421b71656a&biw=1680&bih=905). Early occurances are of the form “is it coincidence? i think not”. So slightly different then the OP, but its pretty clear the slightly shorter form must’ve come from the longer one (the 1912 book “Pearls of Wisdom” gives “A fluke! A Coincidence! I think not” which is almost exactly the phrase from the OP). ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-coincidence-i-think-not/324262/44 "2013-02-14T07:11:13Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I’m sure Fred Willard must have said it at some point. Perhaps in a cinema ? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-coincidence-i-think-not/324262/45 "2013-02-14T12:01:30Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > [Here you go](http://www.google.com/search?q=coincidence%2C+i+think+not&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1#hl=en&tbo=d&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min%3A1800%2Ccd_max%3A1899&tbm=bks&sclient=psy-ab&q=%22coincidence%2C+i+think+not%22&oq=%22coincidence%2C+i+think+not%22&gs_l=serp.3...61615.64950.0.65367.2.2.0.0.0.0.1019.1019.7-1.1.0...0.0...1c.1.3.psy-ab.s0KggImPRfk&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42452523,d.b2I&fp=768090421b71656a&biw=1680&bih=905). Early occurances are of the form “is it coincidence? i think not”. So slightly different then the OP, but its pretty clear the slightly shorter form must’ve come from the longer one (the 1912 book “Pearls of Wisdom” gives “A fluke! A Coincidence! I think not” which is almost exactly the phrase from the OP). My apologies. I was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-coincidence-i-think-not/324262/46 "2013-02-14T14:12:11Z")
And, just in case there are any newbies, or anyone who hasn’t read the whole thread, the OP died in 2007. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-coincidence-i-think-not/324262/47 "2013-02-14T18:54:09Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > There was a guy in high school with me who loved to say, “Coincidence? I don’t THINK so!” That would’ve been around '81-'82 or so. I never knew if he was riffing on something he’d heard elsewhere. I asked some of my high school buddies, one of whom wrote (lightly edited): \*I tell you this because of your endless search for the truth. There was a school assembly and a magician performed. After what seemed like every trick where he picked the right card or did a mind-reading trick, he said the catchphrase, “Coincidence, I think not!” After that, [our mutual friend] Tom thought it was so silly that he must have said “coincidence” 10 times or so in 45 minutes - then he started saying it as a parody for just about everything.\* ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Mel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b38774/32.png) [@Uncle\_Mel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Mel)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-coincidence-i-think-not/324262/48 "2014-06-09T22:44:42Z")
Does this ring a bell? 7 people on Gilligan’s Island 7 people in the space shutllle coincidence I think not — 24 cans of beer in a case 24 hrs in a day Coincidence I Think Not – Satan and Santa they both spell their names a like ,both wear red and black and you never see them together Coincidence I Think Not – Lou Gehrig died of Lou Gehrigs Disease ,Coincidence I think not — I know this is a late post but it looked like no one has answered it and I just got here so here is my best guess – I think it was a comedian called The Todd ,Coincidence Maybe— ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2014, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-coincidence-i-think-not/324262/49 "2014-06-11T07:30:58Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > I’m confused. Are you saying that the entire phrase “Coincidence? I think not.” appears in books and articles before, say, 1950? I think not. There’s that famous old joke about the day Descartes thought not, and look what happened to him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-coincidence-i-think-not/324262.md?page=2)