Etymology Journal · G
Good enough for government work
Meaning
- A cynical way to say something is sufficient even if it is not perfect or high quality. It implies doing the bare minimum required to finish a task.
Cynical, dry
Used in a sentence
- The shelf is a little crooked, but it is good enough for government work.
- I didn't polish the hubcaps, but that is good enough for government work.
- We skipped the extra sanding because it is good enough for government work.
The backstory
This is a mid-20th-century idiom born from the stereotype that government employees were notoriously inefficient or uninterested in excellence. It is a humorous jab at bureaucratic indifference.
Heard in
Nationwide
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