Tracking the Skipper, part 1

The inimitable Madge comments:

If we’re allowed to make requests, today I was looking up the word “Skipper” and couldn’t find any dictionaries/wiki pages that mentioned its, in my mind, very common meaning of “person who doesn’t drink so they can drive all their drunk friends home from the pub”. Guess it must be an Australian term but what is its history?

Can you use your linguistic prowess to find this out for your adoring fans?!

I think this is a cool use of ‘Skipper’ — it makes the non-drinking responsible friend seem more authoritative. In the NT, they call this person ‘Sober Bob‘, which is just terrible — who wants to be Sober Bob? Sounds like the one who drew the short straw. But ‘Skipper’ — now you’re running the ship, mate! Maybe ‘Skipper Bob’ would be okay. (Don’t mind me: you’re cool for taking care of your friends, no matter what they call you… Bob.)

Anyway, I remember the use of the term ‘skipper’ from the 90’s, which means it probably goes back earlier. The clearest way to nail down its origin is to find its earliest use in print. Madge is right — for such a common term, it’s remarkably difficult to trace. Oxford (paywall) doesn’t even list it among the senses of ‘skipper’, and neither does Etymonline.

This paper by Watson and Neilsen (2008) names a ‘Skipper’ program from 2006, which seems a bit late. However, this paper by Boots and Midford (1999) (PDF) claims that:

The ‘Pick-a Skipper’ campaign was devised by the Liquor Industry Road Safety Association in 1985 as a mass media promotion encouraging drinkers to choose a non-drinking ‘Skipper’ to drive drinkers home.

If that’s right, that would push back the earliest usage of ‘Skipper’ to 1985. Keep in mind: we haven’t really backdated it to 1985 — I’d want to see the promotional materials from the campaign itself — but it does provide a clue as to where to look. For now, we have to plant the flag at 1999.

And there the trail goes cold. Anyone have any skipper-related documentation lingering around the garage? The work of linguistic history is waiting on you!