More on "The Whole Six Yards"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 9/8/2012 01:52 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Extraordinary finds.
>
>Is it a coincidence that both examples of the heretofore unknown "whole six
>yards" appear in newspapers of the same Kentucky county within a little
>more than a month of each other?

No.  American newspaper printers copied each other, from the start of
American newspapers.  In the same county, they might even have talked
to each other, and used this new expression.

Only partly in jest,
Joel


>JL
>
>On Sat, Sep 8, 2012 at 10:46 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: More on "The Whole Six Yards"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Thanks, Bonnie
> > Bottom of page 1 col. 6, 6 lines up
> >
> >
> http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=mounews;cc=mounews;q1=yards;rgn=full%20text;idno=mou1912062801;didno=mou1912062801;view=pdf;seq=1;passterms=1
> >
> > As we have been gone for a few days and failed to get all the news for
> > this issue we will give you the whole six yards in our next.
> >
> > 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: Saturday, September 08, 2012 10:34 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: [ADS-L] More on "The Whole Six Yards"
> >
> > I appreciate reading Stephen's, Dave's, and Fred's thoughts on "the
> > whole six yards of it."  I learn a lot from these discussions and feel
> > that some of the best work of the list comes through these
> > collaborative efforts.
> >
> > On Sat, Sep 8, 2012 at 9:02 AM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > 1912 _Mount Vernon (KY) Signal_ 17 May 1 (Chronicling America)  But
> > there i=
> > > s one thing sure, we dems would never have known that there was such
> > crooke=
> > > dness in the Republican party if Ted and Taft had not got crossed at
> > each o=
> > > ther.  Just wait boys until the fix gets to a fever heat and they will
> > tell=
> > >  the whole six yards.
> >
> > This is a great find, Fred, and I thank you for it.  I find it
> > particularly compelling because "the whole six yards" is coupled with
> > "tell," as in "relate," "report," "share" and, well, "give."  Maybe
> > it's just me, but I also sense a hint of "[of it/of the story]" tacked
> > on to the end of "they will tell the whole six yards."
> >
> > -- Bonnie
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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