Closing in on "the whole nine yards"

[Bonnie]

From Ben Zimmmer's "Language Log" column, posted today,

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004623.html

This represents something of a Holy Grail among word sleuths: a significant antedating (i.e., an earlier citation that what is already known) for the elusive phrase the whole nine yards, meaning 'the full extent of something.'

The whole nine yards serves as a rare counterexample to the Recency Illusion: despite many theories for its origin in the distant mists of time, it has only been documented since the 1960s.

(By the way, real-old-timers may remember Sam Clements, who discovered this 1964 antedating and who is mentioned in Zimmer's column. Sam, posting as "sam the coinman," was a frequent visitor here until a few years ago.)

-- Bonnie