Where does "send it" come from?

I'd always assumed it was a term used first by climbers in the 90's.  I hear it all over the place now, so I'd assumed it was appropriated by skateboarders, skiers, video gamers, etc.  ChatGPT doesn't give us any credit however:

The use of the word "send" to mean "to successfully complete an objective" or "to succeed in doing something" likely originated in the 20th century, particularly in the context of internet culture and video games.

In the early 2000s, the phrase “send it” became popular, especially among extreme sports enthusiasts, such as skateboarders, snowboarders, and mountain bikers. It was used to encourage someone to take on a difficult challenge or to go all-in on an action, often with the idea that the person should go ahead with confidence or boldness.

The phrase then grew in popularity through social media, where it became associated with completing tasks or challenges in a confident, successful manner. Over time, it evolved into a broader, more general use, where "send" became shorthand for successfully completing any difficult or ambitious task, including goals or objectives.

It’s difficult to pin down an exact year when this usage started, but its rise in extreme sports and online communities likely happened in the early 2000s.

ChatGPT is notoriously wrong, oftentimes, but I was surprised it didn't cite us.

Abbreviated version of ascend. Sorry its not cooler.

I dunno, but it’s long past time for that phrase to go away.

Apparently climbers have been asking that question for 30 years now. The first answer claims the term was already 4-5 years old:
https://groups.google.com/g/rec.climbing/c/gwtjcALGLSA/m/Ocgk2FuYJCQJ

This is the post it's referencing, and is the 1st usage I found on rec.climbing: Jean-Paul Finne sends Just Do It (Apr 25, 1995)

"Send it" appears to mostly used as compound phrase initially (even being written as "send-it").

Climbers were already sick of it by 1996:

It's sounds so juvenile, the way people tag it to every sentence that comes out of their mouths: "Send a route" "Send a bowl" "Send a beer" "Send a dump" "Send some Z's" "Send a burrito" etc...

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.climbing/c/ntz2OrYy0E4/m/7mbWxGix8iIJ

In that thread somebody claims a non-climbing use for the term:

We used to use that phrase when we were on the shooting range with our high powered rifles. We thought it was pretty cool to say, "Send it". Now we use it when we need our bills mailed. "Hey.....Send it".

In most of the threads from that time jokes reference packing/mailing are made:
https://groups.google.com/g/rec.climbing/c/glfulWFcZbo/m/s-nmL6yUJUcJ

Interestingly I noticed an active MP user commented on a few of these threads...

A possibility floated on SuperTopo is that it's derived from "dispatch" as in "dispatch the crux". I can't actually find old references to "dispatch" being used that way though.
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=407444&tn=0&mr=0

Anyway I had to click the "next" arrow about a million times to scroll through the Usenet archives so I figured I would share what I found.

Austin that's some serious wayback mojo you just posted up. I did click back some arrows a few times but did not get back to the happy days in the mid-90s. Too much clicking! I did see Eugene Miya's automated panel posts continued on for a very long time. Artifacts from the past. I hope Mr. Miya is still among the living. He could always be counted on for old school main frame jokes.

"Why does the sys op wear mountaineering boots in the computer room?" 

"Just in case a mountain springs up through the raised floor! HAH!"

apogeewrote:

I dunno, but it’s long past time for that phrase to go away.

I agree it needs to die a quick death. I thought it was stupid when I first heard it and now it has spread like a virus to other sports.I also could not believe how unbelieviable stupid the word "condies" was used for conditions.

It’s not dying quickly enough. Now it’s morphed into a noun. 

Kevinmurraywrote:

I agree it needs to die a quick death. I thought it was stupid when I first heard it and now it has spread like a virus to other sports.I also could not believe how unbelieviable stupid the word "condies" was used for conditions.

Don't forget "inspo" and "deets".

Marc801 Cwrote:

Don't forget "inspo" and "deets".

This shit is permeating my brain. The other day I was asking my son how his marathon training was going, and I instinctively wanted to type “thon”.   

I’ve previously railed that mountain bikers and cross fitters have culturally appropriated our word.

The big difference is the meaning. In climbing, a send is specific to success. No takes, no falls. Otherwise, it’s an almost send = nothing.

On a bike or ski’s, you can eat shit straight into a tree and be lifeflighted out, and your bro’s will say “bro sent it a little too hard”.

So it’s the act of doing it, or putting in the effort, without any consideration to the success of your efforts? That’s fundamentally different than a climbing definition.

I’m willing to give it up. I’m happy enough to simply say I climbed a route, I can give further details if pressed. For me that’s enough, because I don’t consider a route climbed unless it’s been with no falls on lead. The exception is swinging leads in a multi pitch situation.

They can also keep “Sendy” for when the conditions are right. I’ll sweeten the pot, I’ll throw in “splitter” and “rig” .

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsionwrote:

They can also keep “Sendy” for when the conditions are right. I’ll sweeten the pot, I’ll throw in “splitter” and “rig” .

I raise you "suss" and "convo".

Sometimes we’ll say stuff like, “send it!” or, “did you get the footy?” in a tongue-in-cheek way, but when somebody does it without a hint of irony, Malibu’s Most Wanted style…      HILARIOUS! 

According to Matt Samet, author of The Climbing Dictionary, a book about climbing lingo, the phrase “made its first big public appearance at the 1988 International Sport Climbing Competition, held on the outside of the Cliff Lodge in Snowbird, Utah.” California climber Steve Schneider was captured on tape “encouraging fellow competitors to ‘Send it!’ while they climbed,” Samet writes. He adds that Colorado climber Bobbi Bensman, who also competed at the Snowbird event, couldn’t recall where she heard it first but she said, “For sure it was an American thing.” Oregon climber Brooke Sandahl told Samet he heard “send it” at Smith Rock in Oregon in the mid-1980s. 

https://www.5280.com/what-does-it-mean-to-send-it/

I'm still wondering about how the gym "Sender One" got its name.  It makes no sense.

Can't answer the OP but I do appreciate the Jerry of the Day send portal.

Gumby Kingwrote:

I'm still wondering about how the gym "Sender One" got its name.  It makes no sense.

Did it open during the video game craze of the 80's?

First experienced the expression in field artillery in the early ‘90s (6/8 FA).  Usually used in a slangy way (“send it!”)by the FIST team after an “adjust fire” or “fire for effect” command, with a “splash out” response. I started to climb seriously around that time and it was already in common use at the early sport crags and bouldering areas. 

Frank Steinwrote:

First experienced the expression in field artillery in the early ‘90s (6/8 FA).  Usually used in a slangy way (“send it!”)by the FIST team after an “adjust fire” or “fire for effect” command, with a “splash out” response. I started to climb seriously around that time and it was already in common use at the early sport crags and bouldering areas. 

I feel like a ton of slang originates in the military.  "Good to go" is one example I'm aware of that started in the military.  I wouldn't be surprised if "send" started there.

I used “send” once in the mid nineties.  After promptly slapping the shit out of myself, never used it again.  

As far as I’m aware, it came out of climbing.  It’s not Military in the common context used.  

I was bemoaning the term with good buddy of mine who was a high level kayaker in the PNW/NorCal in the 90's and he said the term was used back then as a shortened version of descend, like "I just descended those rapids". 

Marc801 Cwrote:

Did it open during the video game craze of the 80's?

Nope