"yards of information"; "whole yards"

[Stephen Goranson]

The following (or some of it) may or may not be significant in the quest for the origins of "the whole nine yards" or "the whole six yards." (It may be possible that the two have somewhat different origins.)

Caleb Catlum's America; the enlivening wonders ... . McHugh, Vincent, 1904-1983 (1936) [HathiTrust]
p. 122
The talk finally swung 'round to the matter of husbands and I picked up five-six dozen yards of information I carried with me all my life long.
p. 164
Guillaume the Canuck feller had yards and yards of stuff 'bout some hero of the North Woods named Paul Bunyan.

Traveling alone. A woman's journey around the world. ... . Leland, Lilian. (1890) [HT] p. 238
A small boy takes me in hand, and reels off several yards of information, all of which I have happily forgotten.

The Incorporated accountants' year book 1912/13. (London) [HT] p. 502
[Examination question] 6. A certain newspaper contains 16 pages, each measuring 24 ins. by 18 ins. How many square yards of information are contained in one copy?

The quarterly journal of economics. v.4 1890 (Cambridge MA). [HT] p. 219
Generally, too, he passed in front of the student who really wanted to see, who found the hundreds of square yards of information very hard on neck and eyes, the hundreds of books, pamphlets, and reports which were nailed to the little tables bewilderingly numerous and tantalizing,....

Reauthorization of OMB's Office of Information ... 4.G 74/9:S.hrg.101-588. United States Senate (1990) [HT] p. 85 We don't, for instance, ask for the entire 9 yards of information for every chemical under every circumstance.

Burton Prepares Channel Attack So Declares Port Warden Ray at Meeting of the Board Advises; Philadelphia Inquirer, 12-04-1906; v 155;  no 157; p.6; col. 6 [AHN]
I understand that Congressman Burton...has prepared four yards of information upon which he proposes to base some sort of argument..."

Rain Brings Naval Recruits. Alger Anxious to Leave at Once and Get to His Training Station;  Aberdeen American [SD] 04-27-1918; p. 8 c. 3 [AHN] [A naval recruiter] ...giving out yards of information.

[The Beginnings of the English Newspaper 1620-1660. Joseph Frank 1961. p. 239. paper.
With a straight face he [Collins, in the 17th c.] referred to an indictment of a lawyer that filled a sheet nine yards long....]

Bob Long. J. Robert Boyer (Shenandoah PA, c1887) [HT] p.13
Bob--....Florence, I have come here to tell you that I _love you_....I am not going to give vent to whole yards of nectar-impregnated effusions....

In the land of the Filipino, by Ralph Kent Buckland (NY c1912) [HT] p. 5....the driver at intervals giving voice to whole yards of Spanish....

Poster advertising / written and compiled by Herbert ... . Duce, Herbert Cecil. (Chicago, 1912) [HT] p.7
....passing citizens were amused by whole yards of reversed posters....

Vancouver to the coronation : a four month's holiday ... . Miller, John James, 1860-1950.(London, 1912) [HT] p. 163
....he recited whole yards of Burns in the Scotch lingo.

Turkish life and character. By Walter Thornbury. ... v.1. Thornbury, Walter, 1828-1876. (London, 1860) [HT] p.106
But as these poems in blue and gold sometimes run to whole yards of verse, let this specimen suffice.

[Narrative of the British embassy to China ... 1792-1794 ... . Anderson, Aeneas. (London, 1796) [HT] p.4
In this manner the whole yards of the ship are filled with men up to the main-top-gallant royal.]

Sermons. 2. Spurgeon, C. H. (Charles Haddon), 1834-1892.(NY, 1857- )[HT]p. 341
We have heard men talk of their experience, who can give us whole yards of godliness, if that consists in the tongue; but when they come to practice, ah!

Parodies of the works of English & American authors, ... v.6. Hamilton, Walter, comp.(London 1884-9)[HT]p.25 c.1
"You who, with a wind of words in thuds of thunder,
Of sense made hash;
Blind, yet bleating in the blaze of your own blunder
Whole yards of trash;...."

Stephen Goranson
www.duke.edu/~goranson

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