[Ads-l] "Go [the] whole cloth" [1905]

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

In looking for early examples of "made from whole cloth" and "cut from
whole cloth" and related to indicate falsehoods, I stumbled on several
appearances of the new-to-me "go [the] whole cloth," which signifies
something distinct from falsehood.

In a sense, "go the whole cloth" resembles "go [the] whole hog," not just
in form, but also in meaning.

Importantly, OED3 has a few definitions for "whole cloth" that other
dictionaries don't; these may help us better understand "go the whole
cloth." You can find them at https://t.ly/x6lq. (The closest that I can
think could apply here is the OED's description of the adverbial form of
"whole cloth": "Chiefly North American. As a whole; without making use of
anything that has gone before; completely; outright," but the examples that
are provided by OED don't really fit with "go the whole cloth" presented
here.)


As far as I can tell, "go [the] whole cloth" starts showing up in American
newspapers ca. 1905; it persists into the 21st century. Examples of uses
from 1905-1950 follow. (I'm going to set off examples of various texts
throughout this message with ***.)

*** Now we will say to our converted contemporaries that if you want to go
the whole cloth, advocate the enactment of a fair election law, the repeal
of the law to protect election thieves and lets [sic] have honest elections
in this State. ["Let's Have Honest Elections," The Caucasian (Raleigh,
N.C.), 9 March 1905, p. 2.]

*** But if our wise legislators thus seek to differentiate between the
local or Federal benefits from projects carried out in the District bill,
let them go the whole cloth; divide and divorce on that basis every item
from beginning to end; recast the accounts from top to bottom and start out
on a brand-new basis of financing the Capital. Give the local taxpayers the
right to speak as to when and how their own money will be spent; reserve to
themselves, as now, the decisions on how Federal money will be spent. [From
"Municipal Center Financing," The Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 18 April
1930, p. A-8.]

*** Consistency demands that if the financial responsibility of the Federal
Government be measured according to its tax debt, there will be an
accompanying measurement of financial responsibility springing from the
other items mentioned. If there are no other obligations, then let the
Federal Government go the whole cloth and assume the role of the taxpayer
who leaves the responsibility and power of government to others. ["The
Federal Obligation, The Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 22 May 1930, p.
A-8.]

*** Why not go the whole cloth? Recognizing the need, why not supply that
need according to the principles and the practices followed in every city,
town and hamlet of the Nation except the Capital? ["Why Not Go All the
Way?," The Evening Star (Washington, D.C.), 26 April 1931, p. 2.]

*** Textilians would doubtless have an American embargo on Japan go the
whole cloth. ["Paragraphs," The Greensboro (N.C.) Daily News, 14 February
1940, p. 6. Obviously this is a pun, but it does reinforce that "go the
whole cloth" signifies "go all the way."]

*** John laughed quietly. "Eve likes to pretend we have a maid who serves
the coffee. Isn't that it, Mrs. D.?" "Partly, I suppose," Eve answered.
"Only if I went the whole cloth, we'd have it in the drawing room -- if we
had a drawing room ... " [Ruth Hawthorne, "The Mother-In-Law," St.
Louis Globe-Democrat, This Week Magazine, 7 October 1945, p. 76.]

*** The Indianapolis Purchasing Agents' Association, meeting today noon in
the Athenaeum, will go whole cloth. They will view a film, "The King's
Other Life," which describes in Technicolor the picking, manufacturing,
cleaning, carting, weaving and printing of cotton cloth. [In Robert
Kellum's Business and Industry column, The Indianapolis Star, 3 April 1947,
p. 26.]

*** It looks as though cotton support prices for 1951 won't go the whole
cloth. ["Paragraphs," The Greensboro (N.C.) Daily News, 26 November 1950,
p. 4, Feature Section.]


In my earlier message on "whole cloth" used to signify falsehood, I had
included a 1792 instance of "go through the whole cloth," which might be
used to indicate falsehood or inaccuracy, but which also strikes me as a
potential one-off form of "go the whole cloth" with the meaning "go all the
way."

*** I have been informed that it was in direct violation of our present
glorious constitution ; and that therefore it not to be obeyed. The
unconstitutionality of the law, he said, has not been proved. Very well
said I, then let us go through the whole cloth -- it is not the assemblice
[sic] and concerts carried on in violation of the law? He said he did not
know that they were. [From "Theatrical Intelligence," The Mail; or,
Claypoole's Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia), 21 December 1792, p. 2. For
context, see article at https://t.ly/KdC_0.]


One reason I thought it worthwhile to share this little-enountered idiom is
that list-member Peter Reitan, in writing about the origin of "the whole
nine/six yards" (you knew I'd get there), has mentioned "cut from whole
cloth" and similar as supporting that "the whole nine yards" may be
patterned after yards of fabric. You can read his analyses of whether the
expression is based on material (he offers specific reasons for why "nine"
and why "six") and, further, whether it's related to "cut from whole cloth"
at https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2015/02/nine-yards-to-dollar-history-and.html
 and
https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2015/08/nine-yards-cut-from-whole-cloth-or-too.html.
He also brought this up on ADS-L in 2015.

That "the whole nine yards" is based on fabric lengths/uses -- specific or
otherwise -- has been a popular theory for several decades. There are other
theories about what, if anything, the idiom may be based on. (Dave Wilton
also presents a nice run-down of figurative "yards" that could be at the
heart of the idiom:
https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/whole-nine-yards.)

I don't know whether "go the whole cloth" is a cousin of "[go] the whole
nine yards," whether one influenced the formation of the other, or whether
these are distinct idioms that developed separately and were used in
parallel.

I also don't know whether these uses of "go the whole cloth" reinforce a
notion that "the whole nine yards" may be based on fabric.

But I thought I'd make a roundabout point or two about the latter with
respect to the former.


The earliest known appearances of "the whole/full nine yards" and "the
whole six yards" (1907-1930; see https://t.ly/C0QCK) rely on "promise,"
"stolen," "tell," "take," "heard," "give," "settled," "stood through," and
"is," rather than "go." That's not to say that a form involving "go" wasn't
also in use ca. 1905; it's just that we haven't located it yet. (We do know
that "go the full nine yards" was in use in Louisville at least by 1946.)

For what it's worth, here's a 1947 usage of "whole cloth" that relies on
"give." It certainly does resemble uses of "the whole nine yards" --
especially "give [them/him/you] the whole nine/six yards" -- from 20 and 30
years earlier.

*** Now that we have gone this far, we may as well give you the whole cloth
in one piece about the Ratterman vs. Leahy biz, and why the young man, who
would have been everybody's All American this Fall at Notre Dame, is,
instead, playing for Jim Breuill's long green. [Then a long explanation
follows. In a section titled "The Whole Story," within Cy Kritzer's "Leahy
Might Have Taken Army If He'd Pushed Ratterman," The Buffalo (N.Y.) Evening
News, 26 August 1947, p. 3. Kritzer, who spent his early life near
Scranton, Pennsylvania, was born around 1908.]


Getting back to "go the whole nine yards" specifically, I'll note that a
report on the visit of a "famous revivalist" to a small church near
Whitwick, Leicestershire in late June, 1855 features "go nine yards round"
in a semi-familiar figurative sense:

*** "He says 'Pray short, I tell you; let's have some of that holy ghost
stuff -- not go nine yards round; let's have some of that holy ghost
stuff.' He commanded every body to kneel down and pray." [From "Local
Summary," Leicester (England) Chronicle, or Commercial and Agricultural
Advertiser, 7 July 1855, p. 3.]

Probably the above 1855 British "go nine yards round" is just an isolated
usage (I haven't found other examples) and is not very meaningful in the
scheme of things, but to me it seems to suggest excessiveness or
circuitousness in the same way Richard Bucci's 1850 Missouri
perhaps-proto-idiom find does. (For background, see Fred Shapiro's message
at https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2015-April/136840.htm
<https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2015-April/136840.html>.)

*** Your last "nine yards" would be unworthy of notice, as it commences
with a falsehood and ends with a lie ... I will not attempt to follow you
through your "nine yards" in all its serpentine windings ...

(I would be remiss if I didn't reiterate that Peter Reitan's analysis of
this 1850 usage at
https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2015/08/nine-yards-cut-from-whole-cloth-or-too.html
emphasizes
"nine yards" in the above example as signifying untruth and argues against
a meaning of excessiveness.)

-- Bonnie

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