DCUM grammar police, is it "IN the books" or "ON the books"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Folks live ON Long Island but live IN DC

It is confusing

In vs. On

It’s not confusing. On an island and in a swamp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks live ON Long Island but live IN DC

It is confusing

In vs. On

It’s not confusing. On an island and in a swamp.

Exactly. One lives ON an island: “I live IN the state of Hawaii, and my home is ON Kauai. What island do you live on?”

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s one for the books.

+1

I'd say this is the safest one to use to avoid confusion

[Anonymous]

I'm bilingual and get confused quite often with in and on the books, and it's kind of a double negative with sports, because cheers to another great season on the books can me and looking forward to another season!! In the books like as in closing the chapter of a season, but we all might be grammatically incorrect-now that I'm thinking of it..and what I just posted about (separate from here)...Wouldn't it actually be, "Cheers to another season FOR the books?!" Lmao.. I'm tongue-tied tonight working on taxes while trying to post to a soccer team I finished coaching!! Haha I guess either way on the books I could be speaking of the season I'll be coaching next, since it's in the near future?! 😉🫣🙃😊🤭🤣

[Anonymous]

This has changed over time. "On the books" means "on the record" and was always used to mean "completed."(It also has the meaning of "scheduled," but that's a distinct idiom.)However, over the past 15 years "in the books" has been used more and more frequently (to the annoyance of many) to mean "completed" and now seems to be the more common version of that expression, to the point where many people are not aware of the shift. Similar to what is happening with "based on" vs "based off"

[Anonymous]

As said several times, they are two separate expressions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’ve been incorrect.

“In the books” means finished, as in “Well, that’s another great season in the books.”

“On the books” means officially recorded, as in “That’s the hottest day on the books.”

This.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yesssssss

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has changed over time. "On the books" means "on the record" and was always used to mean "completed."(It also has the meaning of "scheduled," but that's a distinct idiom.)However, over the past 15 years "in the books" has been used more and more frequently (to the annoyance of many) to mean "completed" and now seems to be the more common version of that expression, to the point where many people are not aware of the shift. Similar to what is happening with "based on" vs "based off"

Do you have a cite for that? I’m pretty old and was raised by someone born in the 19th century and also read a lot of older literature, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard “on the books” used in that way (to mean competed).