Whole Nine Yards Citation

[Dave Wilton]

Thanks. I don't know how I missed the HDAS entry--it's there plain as day. I
am sure that I've looked there before.

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Douglas G. Wilson
Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2002 5:20 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Whole Nine Yards Citation


>Has anyone antedated the 1970 citation in the OED? I've seen various claims
>that it dates to "the mid-60s," which is a reasonable assumption, but I've
>never actually seen a citation earlier than the one in the OED.

Yes. Ca. 1966, anyway. See HDAS under "nine". The same book has three
instances.

-- Doug Wilson