whole nine yards

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>In the 1991 book page 68, but not in the 1967 book:
>"Smash had been married for over twenty years. But because of the many
>long and
>frequent TDYs away from home and 'irreconcilable differences,' he had
>chosen to
>split the sheets. Slipping out of the knot was expensive but Smash eventually
>untangled the whole nine yards."

Right, and a comparable passage in the same context is in the early edition
too. IIRC it says something like "untangle what Smash would call 'the whole
nine yards'" in the early edition which I read ... which I don't have handy
now. It's possible there were variant editions back in the 1960's. The
instance in question is the earliest one in the book: Smash met Mercy Belle
(the one with all the beds) during some divorce-related activity: the
passage would appear right about where Mercy Belle first appears in the book.

-- Doug Wilson