Not Chopped Liver (1947); Texas Toast (1960); Ants on a Log (1983)

[Douglas G. Wilson]

"Whole ball of wax" is possibly a modification of "whole bailiwick" IMHO. I
have not addressed "one's ball of wax", which by analogy might be related
to "one's bailiwick".

In fact, "one's ball of wax" is sometimes used like "one's cup of tea",
other times like "one's specialty" -- something like "one's bailiwick"
indeed! "Ball of wax" here approximates "thing" ("the whole thing" or
"one's thing").

Examples of "my ball of wax" from Google (Groups) (there are plenty more):

<<Viruses are not my ball of wax, so to speak, so any help would be
appreciated.>>

<<If you're really into MIDI stuff, I hear there are a few options (not my
ball of wax, tho - you'll have to do some digging)>>

<<You aren't making any sense and, frankly my dear sir, the buffer cache,
vm_pager interface, VN device, and vm_pager_strategy subsystem is my ball
of wax, not yours...>>

<<This is my ball of wax, any advise or tips just ask.>>

I do not suppose however that this sort of thing has any bearing on the
etymology of "[whole] ball of wax".

-- Doug Wilson