All wool and a yard wide

[Michael Quinion]

Thanks to Erin McKean and Doug Wilson for their comments. My existing
piece on the phrase does suggest that it arose through a connection
with the physical width of the cloth, which was why I was intrigued
to receive a suggestion that it might be from an advertising slogan,
as has been suggested in the past, and a specific one at that. It
looks from the evidence I've seen that it was an elaboration of the
older "all wool" for something first-class, which is recorded from
the period of the Civil War.
--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: <TheEditor at worldwidewords.org>
Web: <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>