"The Whole Six Yards" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Shapiro, Fred]

In searching for early examples of "the whole six yards," I have seen that it appears occasionally in more recent times, particularly in India.  These are probably re-coinages playing on "the whole nine yards," but maybe some of the usages of "whole six yards" are survivals of the old usage of "whole six yards" that seems to have preceded "the whole nine yards."

Fred Shapiro



________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Mullins, Bill AMRDEC [Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL]
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 3:42 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: "The Whole Six Yards" (UNCLASSIFIED)

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

If I had seen the following before the recent discussion, I'd have
simply thought they were mistakes.  Now, I'm not so sure.


[Lafayette GA] _Walker County Messenger_ 25 Apr 1990 p 4A col 4 [Google
News Archive]

"That will be an impossibility until the whole "six-yards" is resolved."



[Florence AL] _TimesDaily_ 26 Apr 1990 p. 8A col 6 [Google News Archive]

" "We had to go the whole six yards on this case," Plott said."


Elaine Dundy _Elvis and Gladys_   Jackson, MS: University Press of
Mississippi, 2004  p. 93 [Google Books]

" "We had them all," says Charlie Boren, "the whole six yards." "
[referring to the many country bands that had appeared on a radio
station]
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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