[Ads-l] "The whole ten yards" (Oklahoma, 1930)

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

This doesn't add much to our understanding of "the whole nine yards," but
it does reveal that folks in Oklahoma were familiar with the larger idiom
by 1930. Here, the use of "give the 'whole ten yards'" seems to imply "not
holding back." (I was going to say "giving it one's all," but I don't think
that quite fits in this context.) I assume the newspaper writer quotes the
candidate when offering "whole ten yards" and "without fear or favor," but
I suppose it's possible that these are the writer's uses, setting off
familiar phrases with quotation marks.

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Because of his outspoken condemnation of many practices of the state
administration as well as other candidates for the governorship, "Alfalfa
Bill" is one of the "hot spots" in the present campaign. The fact that he
is suggesting some very revolutionary ideas in the conduct of the state in
the event of his election has also been the subject for much discourse in
the present campaign.

In his Cherokee speech he promises to give the "whole ten yards" as he sees
it "without fear or favor."

[From "Bill Murray to Speak Here 9th; Candidate for Governor Will 'Tell It
to the Voters' in Courtroom," The Cherokee (Oklahoma) Republican, 4 July
1930, p. 1. Murray went on to win this race, by the way:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Murray. -- Bonnie)

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It's difficult to know whether a "ten yards" form was a thing (joining the
other-numbered "whole six yards"), or whether this was simply a play on
words (offering even more than "the whole nine yards"), or whether Murray
(or the newspaper writer) just got the better-known "nine yards" version
wrong. But the "whole ten yards" started showing up with more frequency in
newspapers in the '70s. (There may be more than one reason for that.) "The
whole seven yards" also emerged in the '70s and has more frequently
appeared in print, at least in the 20th century, than its ten-yard cousin.
It's possible that both the "ten" and "seven" variants circulated orally
before the '70s, but were seldom captured in print.

It would've been nice to see the full text showing Murray's use of the
idiom (if it's his), but I'll note that the newspaper writer at least tacks
on "give," which parallels how folks had sometimes used "the whole nine
yards" and "the whole six yards" before 1930.

-- Bonnie

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