The whole shooting match [1880]

[David A. Daniel]

Wait! What about the whole enchilada?
DAD



Poster:       "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)" <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
Subject:      Re: The whole shooting match [1880]
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Among Whole Nine Yards, Whole Shooting Match, and Whole Ball of Wax,
you've covered the whole shebang.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Bonnie Taylor-Blake
> Sent: Sunday, October 06, 2013 10:54 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: The whole shooting match [1880]
>

> Poster:       Bonnie Taylor-Blake <b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      The whole shooting match [1880]
>
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> --------
>
> Sorry, I've probably just missed earlier posts (or discussions
> elsewhere) devoted to early examples of "the whole shooting match,"
> but here are at least a few that predate that offered by the OED
> (1896).  I'm assuming that the 1880 usage isn't just a case of "the
> whole shooting match" = fireworks display (in the sense that fireworks
> are shot), but I could be wrong about that.  In any event, I at least
> feel that the 1882 usage as an indicator of an idiom is pretty solid.
>
> -- Bonnie
>
> -----------------------------
>
> The reservoir is recommended as the boss place to have the display of
> fire works on the 4th of July.  The level of the ground there is
fifty-
> two feet higher than the "down town" part of the city, and parties
> could sit right at their south windows and take in the whole shooting
> match.  [From "Happenings," The Daily News (Fort Wayne, Indiana), 18
> May 1880, p. 1, col. 4, via newspapers.com.]
>
> If when everything goes wrong and you are tempted to sell out the
whole
> "shooting match," it is time nature was assisted, and you will find no
> better invigorator than the renowned Pacific Liver Pills.
> Even the name signifies calm, hence they calm all troubles that the
> human flesh is heir to.  [Logansport (Indiana) Daily Journal, 29
> December 1881, p. 9, col. 3, via newspaperarchive.com.  This
> advertisement was published in a lot of newspapers in the 1880s.]
>
> The elections last Tuesday indicate that the people are as tired of
the
> republican party as they are of the bosses.  The whole shooting match
> must go.  [The Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daily Sentinel, 13 November 1882,
> p. 2, col. 2, via newspaperarchive.com.]
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org