“Their plan for a paperless office looked good, on paper”
To “look good on paper” means to look good in theory, but not necessarily in practice. The phrase doesn’t always involve actual paper, but there are jokes.
“The ‘Paperless Office’ looked good on paper” was posted on the newsgroup muc.lists.freebsd.questions on April 3, 1999. “Their plan for a paperless office looked good, on paper ...” was posted on Twitter by CrankyPappy on April 9, 2012. “RT @funnyoneliners Their plan for a paperless office looked good, on paper ... RT @CrankyPappy” was posted on Twitter by Karen White on April 9, 2012.
“THE PLANS FOR A PAPERLESS OFFICE LOOKED REALLY GOOD…ON PAPER” (shown on a sign) was posted on Facebook by Indian Hills Community Sign on October 1, 2022.
Google Groups: muc.lists.freebsd.questions
power-user question
Mark S. Reichman
Apr 3, 1999, 3:00:00 AM
(...)
+———————-oOO—-(_)————————————+
| Mark S. Reichman FreeBSD |
| .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Got source? |
| |
| The “Paperless Office” looked good on paper.
Twitter
CrankyPappy
@CrankyPappy
Their plan for a paperless office looked good, on paper ...
2:25 PM · Apr 9, 2012·Twitter Web Client
Twitter
Karen White
@karen_white13
RT @funnyoneliners Their plan for a paperless office looked good, on paper ...
RT @CrankyPappy
2:45 PM · Apr 9, 2012· HTC Peep
Google Books
5,000 Sidesplitting Jokes and One-Liners
Compiled by Grant Tucker
New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing
2013
Pg. 294:
Their plan for a paperless office looked good, on paper.
Twitter
laurens leurs
@laurensleurs1
“Their plan for a paperless office looked good, on paper…”
6:54 AM · Aug 23, 2018·Twitter Web Client
Twitter
Colonel AD, SM🇮🇳
@simply_mixed_up
Their plan for a paperless office looked good, on paper…
7:17 AM · Jan 24, 2022·Twitter Web App
Twitter
Paul Macken
@PHMacken
My plan for a paperless office looked good….on paper…
9:34 PM · Sep 11, 2022·Twitter Web App
Facebook
Indian Hills Community Sign
October 1, 2022 at 12:37 PM ·
(The following text is shown on an image.—ed.)
THE PLANS FOR A
PAPERLESS OFFICE
LOOKED REALLY GOOD
ON PAPER