"The Whole Six Yards" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

I also noticed the Indian occurrences of "whole six yards"; they nearly
invariably referred to the amount of cloth necessary to wrap a sari
around a woman.  In fact, it almost seemed like "whole six yards" was
another way of referring to a sari.

(And from this I conclude that it is a modern name for a sari that plays
off "whole nine yards", and is almost certainly unrelated to the early
"whole six yards".  But, as Dennis Miller says, I could be wrong.)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
Behalf Of
> Shapiro, Fred
> Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 3:43 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "The Whole Six Yards" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "The Whole Six Yards" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
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> -
>
> 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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