Heard on "Law & Order: CI"

[Charles Doyle]

The OED's instances of "the whole kit" (s.v. kit n1.3; from 1785-1861) are mostly British (there's also "all the kit" from 1788).  However, Bartlett's appendix to the 1848 Dictionary of Americanisms said it's "an expression common in various parts of the country" (p. 403).

Besides "the whole kit" per se, various dictionaries (OED, DA, DAE) give "whole kit and biling [boiling]" (1859-1941); "whole kit and boodle" (a1861-1946); "whole kit and caboodle" (1888-1969); "whole kit and tuck" (1871); "whole kit and cargo" (a1852); "whole boodle" (1833-1858); "whole caboodle" (a1848-1923).

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:20:54 -0700
>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject: Re: Heard on "Law & Order: CI"
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>"The whole kit" must be the latest.  I heard it the other day on a different show.
>
>  I guess there ain't no time to say "caboodle."
>
>  JL
>
>Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>"He liked to dress in women's clothes - panties, bra - the whole _kit_."
>
>The whole _kit_?!
>
>Perhaps the speaker was a Brit doing a dashed good job of faking an
>Amurk'n accent. But don't actors have to follow a script?
>
>-Wilson

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