"[T]he entire nine yards" [3/62]; possible a couple earlier ones

[Stephen Goranson]

Thank you, Bonnie!

These finds certainly provide information important for those seeking the origin.

Very provisionally, a few comments.

These finds seem to strengthen the view that the formulation "whole/entire nine yards" predated the such versions as "all nine yards of goodies" (1962) and "the nine yards of things." The latter may be later developments.

These finds do not, to me, appear to strengthen the view that "whole nine yards" originally meant a long list (despite several previous expressions of support for that view). For example, in the 1962 use--"Most anglers will tell you he has six or seven baits he uses more
than all the others combined, yet he would be lost without the entire
nine yards.  It might be said there's a feeling of security involved
in carrying the whole load on every outing."--"the whole load" may suggest a complete physical array (six or seven bait types plus all the others, physically, combined) rather than a whole, say, _inventory_ of bait.

In the the 1956 hyphenated use, "whole nine-yards" the rationale for the hyphen may not be clear, but which is more likely: "nine-yards," a list (are there parallels for such?) or another sort of entity?

These uses, of course, all three, are fine antedatings.  They are not, though, earlier than the actual nine yards that produced the Liberty Ships (still referred to as nine yards in a 1944 newspaper, on a contest to name a ship from one of the nine yards--citation on request, not at hand). There is no military content here (certainly no allusions to machine gun belts; nor burial shrouds; etc.--nor, though, any specified origin); though, it may be mentioned, whether military or shipbuilders or others, many people noticed WW II. Given the Yankee Notions vol. 4 no. 1 January p. 166-7 "whole nine yards" use (at HathiTrust and reprinted that year in some newspapers), up to 1942 "whole nine yards" was an _exceedingly_ rare collocation.

Since these are from Kentucky, I'll mention that an M.A. Thesis (1979), not in WorldCat,  has the title, "An' the whole nine yards: an ethnography of a Kentucky gunsmith." It's by Michael E. Korn. Unless I missed something when I got that from ILL, the phrase "whole nine yards" in the title is not explained or mentioned at all in the text!

Also, since these are from Kentucky, on a long shot, I have requested via ILL: A glossary of argot in use at the USPHS hospital, Lexington, Kentucky, 1958.

Is Ferd Holtmann still alive? As you may recall, the 1962 "whole nine yards" author, Robert Wegner, as reported by his daughter, thought the phrase referred to the unprecedentedly-productive nine WW II shipyards.

Of course, more evidence will be welcome.

Stephen Goranson
www.duke.edu/~goranson




________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Bonnie Taylor-Blake [b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 7:29 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: [ADS-L] "[T]he entire nine yards" [3/62]; possible a couple              earlier ones

I'm writing to report a (verified) 1962 sighting of "the entire nine
yards," but I wanted to also note that the same periodical *may*
contain a 1956 usage of "the whole nine-yards" (with hyphen) and a
1957 usage of "the whole nine yards."  I've made interlibrary loan
requests so that I can confirm the sightings from the 1950s, but I'll
offer apologies now in case it turns out I've muddled this up.  (Far
below you'll find the relevant links to Google Books snippet views,
though.)

In the meantime, here's that appearance of "the entire nine yards" in
the March, 1962 issue (Volume 18, Issue 2) of the *Kentucky Happy
Hunting Ground*, a publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and
Wildlife Resources and the predecessor of *Kentucky Afield*.  (This
form now joins the other two usages we've found from 1962.)

"Most anglers will tell you he has six or seven baits he uses more
than all the others combined, yet he would be lost without the entire
nine yards.  It might be said there's a feeling of security involved
in carrying the whole load on every outing."  [From Ferd Holtmann,
"Plugs and Bugs," p. 6.]

I don't know anything about Ferd Holtmann other than that he was on
staff at KHHG and wrote several pieces each month for the magazine (at
least, several that bore his name).  For what it's worth, a Ferd
Holtmann was Sports Director at WFKY (radio) in Frankfort in 1959;
perhaps he also moonlighted for the Department of Fish and Wildlife
Resources.  (I suspect that another Ferd Holtmann -- more
specifically, J. Ferd Holtmann, who was associated with railroading --
was the father of the fellow who wrote for KHHG.)

-- Bonnie

Possible 1956 sighting:

http://books.google.com/books?lr=&id=T4AeAQAAMAAJ&dq=editions%3AOFlK_JgAw60C&q=nine+yards#search_anchor

Possible 1957 sighting:

http://books.google.com/books?lr=&id=kIAeAQAAMAAJ&dq=editions%3AOFlK_JgAw60C&q=nine+yards#search_anchor

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