the whole nine yards

[Jonathan Lighter]

Especially interesting because it places the expression in the Great Plains
in the '40s: that tends to corroborate Gordon Cooper's unique 2000
recollection of "the whole six yards," which I posted on October 9, 2009.

They could both be wrong, of course.  The Kansas claim, however, is nicely
circumstantial and cautiously expressed, FWTW.

JL

On Sun, Nov 7, 2010 at 3:22 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: the whole nine yards
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 10:04 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > From http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=133324&messages=18 just
> > today:
>
> Interesting. I've always had a feeling that that expression had to do
> with measuring cloth. Which is not to say that I think that this
> article "proves" anything WRT to that impression. But, IMO, it *is* an
> interesting anecdote.
>
> --
> -Wilson
> –––
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> –Mark Twain
>
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