"[T]he whole nine-yards" (July, 1956)

[Jonathan Lighter]

If the hyphen means anything, presumably it is that the writer regarded the
expression as already familiar enough for the phrase to be considered to
be a unit.

The lack of quotation marks also suggests a lack of perceived novelty.

JL

On Thu, Jul 26, 2012 at 11:32 AM, Bonnie Taylor-Blake <
b.taylorblake at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bonnie Taylor-Blake <b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "[T]he whole nine-yards" (July, 1956)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "So that's the whole nine-yards.  The rules are simple.  You'll find
> them and everything you need to know on the inside page of every entry
> blank."
>
> Dave Baker, editor of *Kentucky Afield* (a publication of the Kentucky
> Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources), has very kindly verified
> that this "appears on Page 18 of the July 1956 edition of Kentucky
> Happy Hunting Ground. This is Vol. 12, No. 4. It is contained within
> an article headlined, 'Kentucky Afield Fishing Derbies Are Underway.'"
>  (He has also followed up with a PDF.)
>
> The article highlights the prizes offered (the Grand Prize is a 14'
> foot, boat trailer, and Evinrude motor, as well as a couple presumably
> terrific fishing rods; smaller prizes, for individual events, are also
> presumably great rods of the day), the five competition locations in
> the Commonwealth, and competition dates, which span from May 12 to
> September 25.  The expression itself follows that, appearing in the
> penultimate paragraph.  I'd be happy to share more if anyone's
> interested.  (I'm waiting for permission to share the PDF itself.)
>
> As Mr. Baker noticed, no author for the piece was listed, but he
> mentioned that "I can assume that it was likely penned by Harry
> Towles, who served as both the magazine editor and as the director of
> Public Relations at the time."
>
> Mr. Baker wasn't able to help with the presumed 1957 sighting ("the
> whole nine yards," without hyphen), but that particular volume should
> arrive to me via interlibrary loan in the next few days.  I suspect
> that find appears in "Dear Sirs," a column that appeared in every
> issue.  Sadly, no author is listed for that column.  (I'm waiting for
> Mr. Baker's thoughts on whether Mr. Towles also penned "Dear Sirs.")
> I haven't been able to figure out how long Mr. Towles edited *Kentucky
> Happy Hunting Ground*, but it occurs to me that if Ferd Holtmann
> himself isn't responsible for "the entire nine yards" in that March,
> 1962 issue, an editor -- perhaps in the process of reviewing
> Holtmann's article -- may have been.
>
> Finally, I am very grateful to Dave Baker, *Kentucky Afield*, and the
> Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources for considerable
> assistance with this and for being such good sports about this strange
> pursuit.  I should also mention how indebted I am to Stephanie Griffin
> of the University of North Carolina's Health Sciences Library for her
> perpetual patience and seemingly endless cheerfulness in the face of
> my sometimes odd and ridiculously vague interlibrary loan requests.
> Naturally, thanks too to John Baker for suggesting contacting
> *Kentucky Afield*!
>
> -- Bonnie
>
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