First Reactions to Bonnie Taylor-Blake's Latest "Whole Nine Yards" Discoveries

[sclements at NEO.RR.COM]

More fantastic finds by Bonnie.  Congrats.

All I want to know is--do you search in the morning or evening every day.  Or both?  :)

Sam Clements


---- Bonnie Taylor-Blake <b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 4:21 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> > 3.  As Bonnie probably already saw, Newspaperarchive also has a possible 19=
> > 16 occurrence of "whole nine yards" from the Greensburg Weekly Democrat, Ma=
> > rch 23, 1916.  This too is in Indiana.
>
> Well, excited as I was earlier today (how silly), I could barely type
> my message to the group, so it's no wonder I didn't see that
> Greensburg sighting, Fred. When you have a moment, would you sent it
> on to us?
>
> A few moments ago I sent a message to Ron Rhody, who had been
> responsible for the previous earliest sightings (1956, 1967) of "the
> whole nine yards."  Ron had said that the expression was something he
> grew up with (1930s), something everyone around him used, and
> something everyone around him understood.  I see these Indiana usages
> from 100 years ago as confirmatory of Ron's recollection.
>
> -- Bonnie
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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