The whole shooting match [1880]

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Mon Oct 7 16:20:14 UTC 2013


At 10/7/2013 12:05 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>On Oct 7, 2013, at 11:53 AM, David A. Daniel wrote:
>
> > Wait! What about the whole enchilada?
> > DAD
>
>Not to mention the whole megillah.

I think we've reached the whole megillah already.  "A long, tedious,
or complicated story".

(Only kidding.)

Joel


>LH
> >
> >
> >
> > Poster:       "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)" <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
> > Subject:      Re: The whole shooting match [1880]
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---
> >
> > 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]
> >>
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> --------
> >>
> >> 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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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



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