"Spring forward, fall back” is a ritual of Daylight Savings Times. The phrase was quoted by New York columnist Walter Winchell in 1957, who attributed it to the Los Angeles Examiner.


California Energy Commission
Spring forward...Fall back....

It’s ingrained in our consciousness almost as much as the A-B-Cs or our spelling reminder of “i before e....” And it’s a regular event, though perhaps a bit less regular than the swallows coming back to Capistrano.

Yet in those four words is a whole collection of trivia, facts and common sense about Daylight Saving Time.

12 October 1957, Burlington (NC) Daily Times-News, Walter Winchell of New York, pg. 4:
New Yorkers and other easterners who enjoy Daylight Savings Time until October’s end are recommended to the Los Angeles Examiner’s clever and simple four-word memo to put the clock ahead or back..."Spring forward, Fall back.”

27 April 1958, Los Angeles Times, pg. A?:
TWICE A YEAR, as a public service, we revive the ultimate in mnemonics for those who simply can’t get it through their pointed little heads which way to adjust their clocks for Daylight Saving Times. And today’s the day. The shift of an hour occurs in spring and autumn. And all you have to do is form a mental image of an athletic alarm clock that “springs” ahead and “falls” back and set your watch accordingly.