Whole Nine Yards update(1964)?

[Dave Wilton]

In "The Doom Pussy" the phrase is exclusively used by pilot "Smash"
Crandell. While it seems that it was in wider use in Air Force circles, it's
pretty obvious that Shepard picked it up from Crandell, hence it isn't in
the earlier book.


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Sam Clements
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 8:56 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Whole Nine Yards update(1964)?

That would be because it wasn't there.  I read that whole book.

sc
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 11:35 PM
Subject: Re: Whole Nine Yards update(1964)?


> Whatever the reason, I did not find "whole nine yards" in her earlier
> book, _Forgive Us Our Press Passes_ (Prentice-Hall, 1962).
>
>  JL
>
> Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM> wrote:
>  ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Sam Clements
> Subject: Re: Whole Nine Yards update(1964)?
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
>
> From my earlier digging on her personal life, from memory.
>
> She was married in the 1940-1950's to a miltary guy. She got divorced. She
> married another military guy in the late 50's-early 60's. He was perhaps
> retired/older. But she was alway around the military.
>
> sc
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dave Wilton"
> To:
> Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 11:01 PM
> Subject: Re: Whole Nine Yards update(1964)?
>
>
>>I don't know anything about her personal life. The dust jacket of my copy
>>of
>> "The Doom Pussy" just states that she was divorced at the time of
>> publication. There's very little about her on the web. (Although I did
>> find
>> out that in her earlier career as an actor she played Darla's mother on
>> one
>> of the "Our Gang" shorts.)
>>
>> Still, from reading "The Doom Pussy" it's clear that she had a good
>> rapport
>> with the Air Force pilots she was writing about. It's a safe bet that any
>> phrase she puts in the mouth of a pilot is, if not an exact quote, at
>> least
>> something that a pilot might in fact have said.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>> Of
>> Sam Clements
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 7:35 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: Whole Nine Yards update(1964)?
>>
>> Dave, or anyone else who has delved into the phrase.
>>
>> I know that Elaine Shepard's husbands were military. If I remember
>> correctly, her first husband was military from the 1940's and later. Her
>> second husband was Air Force. Anyone?
>>
>> sc
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Dave Wilton"
>> To:
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 9:34 PM
>> Subject: Re: Whole Nine Yards update(1964)?
>>
>>
>>> Great find! It does appear to be genuine and while the gloss is rather
>>> specific, it's clearly being used in the familiar sense. The citation
>>> also
>>> further strengthens the idea that its origins are in US Air Force slang,
>>> NASA being very closely associated with the Air Force. (The article is
>>> about
>>> the slang of the space program.)
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>>> Of
>>> Sam Clements
>>> Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 5:56 PM
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>> Subject: Whole Nine Yards update(1964)?
>>>
>>> Newspaper Archive, who has been(rightfully) much maligned the last few
>>> weeks
>>> while they're updating their workings, produces today this cite:
>>>
>>> Tucson(AZ) Daily Citizen, 25 April 1964, page 25, a story about NASA.
>>>
>>> "Give 'em the whole nine yards" means an item-by-item report on any
>>> project.
>>>
>>>
>>> Make of this what you will. It may not be what it seems. I just stopped
>>> by
>>> to report this.
>>>
>>> Sam Clements
>>>
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>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>
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