"Whole Nine Yards" and Occam's Razor, etc.

[Shapiro, Fred]

I think Barry's take on this issue is praiseworthy, serving as demonstration that one can discover a coincidental foreshadowing of a term and place it in proper perspective rather than concocting an improbable theory of the coincidental foreshadowing exterting a causal influence on usage decades later while leaving no trace in the intervening time-period in the extensive databases we now have available.  Because one CAN construct an etymological theory does not mean one SHOULD push it way beyond its plausibility.  Also, I think one needs to have a sense of the rhythms and logic of etymological innovation and diffusion and the applicability of Occam's razor to etymological explanations.

Fred Shapiro


________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Barry Popik [bapopik at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 1:29 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Firstmention.com; Texas Proverbs

In a message dated 8/23/2007 12:07:39 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
dad at POKERWIZ.COM writes:

Has First Mention's take on the whole nine yards been seen before? Has it
been pre-pooh-poohed? As he says, it may be a wild-ass guess, but there
seems no denying his 1855 cite of the phrase unless he just totally made the
whole thing up, which seems unlikely.
DAD

...
...
I posted that 1855 "whole nine yards" citation here over two years ago. It's
completely irrelevant. First citations are important, but you have to look
at the whole picture. There's nothing at all between 1855 and 1964! To
develop a "whole nine yards" etymology based on the 1855 citation can
be worse than nonsense. People will reference this, and it will take a long
time to convince them of the truth. (See the "big apple" 1909 citation.)
...
For some reason, I can't get this stupid mondegreen out of my head today:
"The Gnat: They Drove Old Dixie Down."
...
FYI, I'm working on these Texas Proverbs:
 ...
...
...
http://www.houblon.net/?page=bre-imprim&id_breve=13
  Ancient Texas proverb

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.

Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

...

...


http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/jokes_du_jour/2005-June/000105.html

Texas Proverb

Life is NOT like a box of chocolates.

Life is like a jar of jalapeños.

What you do today

May burn your ass tomorrow.
...
...
(GOOGLE BOOKS)
 A *Texas* Past Revisited: In Search of Texana Belle - Page
215<http://books.google.com/books?id=I_M361J8bxgC&pg=PA215&dq=%22texas+proverb%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=07ziW5NfoIkvZTa3DVl6CLb2U80>by
B. Bryce Davis - History - 2006 - 326 pages
Resting from my strivings and anger, I had a fleeting desire to displace my
irritation by testing an old *Texas proverb*: "You will always find oil
under a Texas graveyard."
...
...
(GOOGLE BOOKS
 A Time for Reflection: An Autobiography - Page
148<http://books.google.com/books?id=t9whMjtjCt4C&pg=PA148&dq=%22texas+proverb%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=bX3FzfIsH762TUHKawUi67BRLUs>by
William E. Simon - Biography & Autobiography - 2004 - 352 pages
For some reason, an old *Texas proverb* came to mind: "Now is the time to
raise
the cow's tail and look the situation squarely in the face.

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