another 1964 "the whole nine yards"

[Stephen Goranson]

The author Charles I. Coombs, according to Literature Resource Center, was born in 1914 and died in 1994, so he can't be asked about it, as the 1962 author has been.

Library Journal reviewed Aerospace Pilot in the April 15, 1964 issue. Even if the reviewer may have had an advance copy, it appears likely that the book was written well before the April 18, 1964 and following newspaper article that also used "the whole nine yards," making Aerospace Pilot the second oldest known published idiomatic usage, 1962 being the first, so far. Though other uses of nine yards in 1942 and 1962, in my opinion, may also be relevant.

Stephen Goranson
________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Stephen Goranson [goranson at DUKE.EDU]
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2011 6:03 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: [ADS-L] another 1964 "the whole nine yards"

I now have a copy of Charles "Chick" Coombs, Aerospace Pilot (NY: Morrow, 1964). The following is a paragraph from Chapter 12, Toward the Unknown, page 164:

Before going to Edwards, you are sent to the School of Aerospace Medicine, located at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas. At Brooks they put you through the whole "nine yards," as they say, of exhaustive physiological tests--everything from pressure chambers to treadmills. You emerge feeling battered, but you pass the physical in good shape.

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson
________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Stephen Goranson [goranson at DUKE.EDU]
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2011 5:33 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: [ADS-L] another 1964 "the whole nine yards"?

Previously, Sam Clements found a syndicated newspaper article about NASA slang by Stephen Trumbull (sometimes misspelled Trumbell} published on various April 1964 dates. It includes: "'Give 'em the whole nine yards' means an item-by-item report on any project." (The earliest known published idiomatic use of "the whole nine yards" is from 1962.)

Currently, Google Books returns for the search "the whole nine yards"--but not for the search "give * the whole nine yards"--a 1964 book, given here in its WorldCat listing:
Aerospace pilot /
Charles Ira Coombs
1964
English Book Book : Juvenile audience 224 p. : ill., photos ; 22 cm.
New York : Morrow,

I have entered an interlibrary loan request, but if anyone else cares to look it up (WorldCat lists 122 libraries),
feel free.

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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