Nine Yards (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

FWIW, a Google search turns up at least three U.S. aircraft of WWII that carried the nickname "Rangy Lil."

  JL

Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
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Poster: Herb Stahlke
Subject: Re: Nine Yards (UNCLASSIFIED)
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There has got to be a major meme here. In December 1966 I was with a
WHO/CDC team in Eastern Nigeria vaccinating the population against smallpox
to fight one of the last epidemics of the disease. We were spending the
night in a very remote village whose residents told us they had not been
visited by Europeans before. Sitting around the fire that evening with the
men of the village, one of the elders told a story that sounds quite a bit
like the ballad of Rangy Lil. It ended up with a penis extending up through
the smoke hole in the roof of a hut.

Herb

On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 3:18 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:

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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC"
> Subject: Nine Yards (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
>
> In the writings of Robert A. Heinlein, you can find reference to a bawdy
> poem/ballad called "Rangy Lil". Heinlein scholar Robert James has been
> researching this poem and other similarly-mentioned ballads in
> Heinlein's works, to see if they are "real" or sprang from Heinlein's
> own imagination (apparently there were some of each).
>
> Given the indications that "full/whole nine yards" may have origins in a
> bawdy Andrew Mactavish joke, James' post to the alt.fan.heinlein
> newsgroup (under the subject "Rangy Lil") may be of interest:
>
>
>
> ********Quote starts*******************************
> I think I've found a piece of the genuine "Rangy Lil" poem. If
> somebody has more of it, I'd like to know:
>
>
> This is from a book called "The Cure of Folly" -- by Gordon Warme...
>
>
> "The poem was about a copulating contest between two legendary
> specialists in the art from the far northern reaches of Canada, Rangy
> Lil and Pete. Here are a few fragments from mid-contest:
>
>
> Lil tried shunts, and double shunts, / And tricks unknown to common
> cunts, / But Pete kept reeling out more hose, / 'Til through the
> portals of Lil's ass, / Nine feet of slimy penis passed. / They hung
> Lil's pants on the shithouse door, / In honour of that gallant whore."
> ********Quote ends*******************************
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.heinlein/browse_frm/thread/3b8bc4
> 1ef24ee97f/97268993e0049450?hl=en#97268993e0049450
>
> One observation from reading the thread. Poems like this have many
> versions. No doubt this one was told or sung with "nine yards" instead
> of "nine feet".
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
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