"[T]he entire nine yards" [3/62]; possible a couple earlier ones

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Wed Jul 25 23:50:28 UTC 2012


These look quite persuasive.

JL

On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 7:29 PM, Bonnie Taylor-Blake <
b.taylorblake at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bonnie Taylor-Blake <b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "[T]he entire nine yards" [3/62]; possible a couple earlier
> ones
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'm writing to report a (verified) 1962 sighting of "the entire nine
> yards," but I wanted to also note that the same periodical *may*
> contain a 1956 usage of "the whole nine-yards" (with hyphen) and a
> 1957 usage of "the whole nine yards."  I've made interlibrary loan
> requests so that I can confirm the sightings from the 1950s, but I'll
> offer apologies now in case it turns out I've muddled this up.  (Far
> below you'll find the relevant links to Google Books snippet views,
> though.)
>
> In the meantime, here's that appearance of "the entire nine yards" in
> the March, 1962 issue (Volume 18, Issue 2) of the *Kentucky Happy
> Hunting Ground*, a publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and
> Wildlife Resources and the predecessor of *Kentucky Afield*.  (This
> form now joins the other two usages we've found from 1962.)
>
> "Most anglers will tell you he has six or seven baits he uses more
> than all the others combined, yet he would be lost without the entire
> nine yards.  It might be said there's a feeling of security involved
> in carrying the whole load on every outing."  [From Ferd Holtmann,
> "Plugs and Bugs," p. 6.]
>
> I don't know anything about Ferd Holtmann other than that he was on
> staff at KHHG and wrote several pieces each month for the magazine (at
> least, several that bore his name).  For what it's worth, a Ferd
> Holtmann was Sports Director at WFKY (radio) in Frankfort in 1959;
> perhaps he also moonlighted for the Department of Fish and Wildlife
> Resources.  (I suspect that another Ferd Holtmann -- more
> specifically, J. Ferd Holtmann, who was associated with railroading --
> was the father of the fellow who wrote for KHHG.)
>
> -- Bonnie
>
> Possible 1956 sighting:
>
>
> http://books.google.com/books?lr=&id=T4AeAQAAMAAJ&dq=editions%3AOFlK_JgAw60C&q=nine+yards#search_anchor
>
> Possible 1957 sighting:
>
>
> http://books.google.com/books?lr=&id=kIAeAQAAMAAJ&dq=editions%3AOFlK_JgAw60C&q=nine+yards#search_anchor
>
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