The full nine yards (1907)

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 3:50 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> Later in the day I will comment a little bit more fully on these stunning latest discoveries by Bonnie, but for now let me ask, on the basis of this 1907 citation, is it possible that "nine yards" meant "nine innings"?

I wondered that too, but I doubt it given that our 1921 baseball
column (Spartanburg, South Carolina) was clearly titled "The Whole Six
Yards of It" and described a baseball game that was at least
nine-innings long.  My guess, at least, is that there isn't any real
connection between "nine innings" and "the full nine yards" in that
1907 sighting.

-- Bonnie

On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 3:50 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: The full nine yards (1907)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Later in the day I will comment a little bit more fully on these stunning latest discoveries by Bonnie, but for now let me ask, on the basis of this 1907 citation, is it possible that "nine yards" meant "nine innings"?
>
> Fred Shapiro
> Editor
> YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS (Yale University Press)
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Bonnie Taylor-Blake [b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Friday, September 06, 2013 3:38 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: The full nine yards (1907)
>
> Again via newspaperarchive.com. -- Bonnie
>
> This afternoon at 2:30 will be called one of the baseball games that
> will be worth going a long way to see.  The regular nine is going to
> play the business men as many innings as they can, but we can not
> promise the full nine yards.  [From "Baseball," The Mitchell
> Commercial (Lawrence County, Indiana), 2 May 1907, p. 2]
>
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