Pushing the Envelope

I thought I had learned the origin of an old adage today, but instead I am only more confused. I learned where "Pushing the Envelope" came from, or so I thought, while reading the book We Got Fired!...And It's the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us by, appropriately enough, Harvey Mackay, founder of the Mackay Envelope Company. (Don't you hate when people say "Ironically" in situations like this? No, "appropriately" is the appropriate word.)

On page 98, Mackay explains the origin thusly:

Meaning: to fly the plane so fast and hard the outer skin (envelope) verged on exploding.

Out of curiosity, I googled the phrase, and came up with this from http://www.phrases.org.uk/:

In aviation and aeronautics the term 'flight envelope' had been in use since WWII, as here from the Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 1944:

"The best known of the envelope cases is the 'flight envelope', which is in general use in this country and in the United States... The ‘flight envelope’ covers all probable conditions of symmetrical maneuvering flight."

That envelope is the description of the upper and lower limits of the various factors that it is safe to fly at, i.e. speed, engine power, manoeuvrability, wind speed, altitude etc. By 'pushing the envelope', i.e. testing those limits, test pilots were able to determine just how far it was safe to go. By 1978 the phrase was in use in print.

I've always enjoyed Mackay's books, although I can't say my way to the top has been expedited because of them, unless I was on the 100-year plan without them. I often wonder how much his stories are embellished for dramatic effect.

But they are good reads, and in the case of this book, it's not only for people who get fired (I haven't been...yet, knock wood), but for anyone who could use a different perspective from that of following the straight and narrow as a path to career fulfillment. Sometimes, as exemplified in some of the stories from the book, the best thing you can do is fire yourself.