From Soup to Nuts

[A. Vine]

Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>
>   From soup to nuts.

I used this expression the other day and my English husband had no idea what I
was talking about.  Apparently this has not crossed the pond.  I then asked him
if he had heard "from top to toe" and the answer was no.  Of course, those two
expressions are not the same.  In fact, I think "from stem to stern" is closer
to "from top to toe" than to "from soup to nuts", and I see the former two being
a more physical reference.