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41-544: The earliest known idiomatic use of the phrase is from 1907 in Southern Indiana . The phrase is related to the expression the whole six yards , used around the same time in Kentucky and South Carolina . Both phrases are variations on the whole ball of wax , first recorded in the 1880s. They are part of a family of expressions in which an odd-sounding item, such as enchilada , shooting match , shebang or hog ,

82-647: A "quick war" and wrote: "Iraqis, cheering their liberators, will lead the Arab world toward democracy." He consistently brought up the point in his Times columns that an Iraqi intelligence agent met with Mohamed Atta , one of the 9/11 hijackers , in Prague , which he called an "undisputed fact". According to the CIA and the FBI , they were unable to confirm or deny the validity of this assertion. The source who made these allegations

123-457: A Lexington, Kentucky newspaper and in a 1956 issue of Kentucky Happy Hunting Ground , where it appears in an article on fishing. After describing the contests and prizes, the author writes, "So that's the whole nine-yards." It appeared in an article on hunting the following year, this time unhyphenated. In a short story published in 1962, the phrase is attributed to "a brush salesman". A letter published in an auto magazine later that year describes

164-461: A certain new car as containing "all nine yards of goodies". In 1964, several newspapers published a syndicated story which explained that "Give 'em the whole nine yards" was NASA talk for an item-by-item report. This early usage can be read as suggesting length, but can also be read as suggesting detailed completeness. Two 1965 newspaper articles quote U.S. military personnel serving in Vietnam using

205-570: A forum for word and phrase discoveries. In 2012, Taylor-Blake discovered the 1956 and 1957 uses in Kentucky Happy Hunting Ground , and later that year she and Fred R. Shapiro found the "whole six yards" examples from the 1912–1921 period, which received substantial publicity. In 2013, Taylor-Blake posted her discovery of the Mitchell Commercial uses from the 1907–1914 period. There is still no consensus on

246-594: A language columnist at the New York Times , asked listeners for information regarding the origin of the phrase on Larry King 's radio show in 1982. Safire ended up writing nine columns on this subject and is largely responsible for the interest in it. In 1986, the phrase was added to the Oxford English Dictionary with the earliest citation given as 1970. The Historical Dictionary of American Slang (1997) cited Shepard's novel, thus pushing

287-520: A political columnist in 1973. Soon after joining the Times , Safire learned that he had been the target of "national security" wiretaps authorized by Nixon, and, after observing that he had worked only on domestic matters, wrote with what he characterized as "restrained fury" that he had not worked for Nixon through a difficult decade "to have him—or some lizard-lidded paranoid acting without his approval—eavesdropping on my conversations". In 1978, Safire won

328-400: A prominent party the following evening. (The narrator clarifies that ready-made shirts were not purchasable "in those days", likely setting the story in the early 19th or late 18th century.) To teach Judge A. a lesson, Mr. C. specifically orders a comically large shirt and promises to have it delivered before the party. Minutes before their departure, the shirt arrives; Judge A. initially praises

369-400: A protocol the administration might follow in reaction to such a disaster. The last line of the prepared text contained an allusion to Rupert Brooke 's First World War poem " The Soldier ". In a 2013 piece for Foreign Policy magazine, Joshua Keating included the speech as one of six entries in a list of "The Greatest Doomsday Speeches Never Made". He joined The New York Times as

410-409: Is all but unimaginable, Bill's provocative and insightful commentary has held our readers captive since he first graced our Op-Ed Page in 1973. Reaching for his column became a critical and enjoyable part of the day for our readers across the country and around the world. Whether you agreed with him or not was never the point, his writing is delightful, informed and engaging. Safire served as a member of

451-438: Is alleged to have become concerned that such a meeting could have harmed his career. Nonetheless, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh do deny that the meeting took place. Safire insisted that the theory was true and used it to make a case for war against Iraq. He also incorrectly predicted that "freed scientists" would lead coalition forces to "caches [of weapons of mass destruction] no inspectors could find". Safire

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492-648: Is considerably more varied than Central and Northern Indiana , including large tracts of forest, rolling hills, and karst caves. The region is also home to the oldest exposed Devonian fossil beds in the world at the Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area . Situated in the Wabash Valley seismic zone , Southwestern Indiana is at elevated risk for earthquakes. Southern Indiana, home to about 1.4 million people,

533-439: Is substituted for ball of wax . The choice of the number nine may be related to the expression " To the nines " (to perfection). Use of the phrase became widespread in the 1980s and 1990s. Much of the interest in the phrase's etymology can be attributed to New York Times language columnist William Safire , who wrote extensively on this question. The Oxford English Dictionary places the earliest published non-idiomatic use of

574-614: The Apollo 11 astronauts were stranded on the Moon. According to the plans, Mission Control would "close down communications" with the LEM and a clergyman would have commended their souls to "the deepest of the deep" in a public ritual likened to burial at sea . Presidential telephone calls to the astronauts' wives were also planned. The speech originated in a memo from Safire to Nixon's chief of staff H. R. Haldeman in which Safire suggested

615-829: The Eastern and Central time zones . Kentuckiana, a portmanteau of " Kentucky " and " Indiana ", is a loosely defined sub-region of the Upland South that spans north-central Kentucky and Southern Indiana's south-central counties. It is primarily centered on the Louisville metropolitan area . Counties typically considered part of the Kentuckiana sub-region include: Southwestern Indiana observes Central Time , including Posey , Vanderburgh , Warrick , Spencer , and Gibson counties. The rest of Southern Indiana observes Eastern Time . Southern Indiana also differs from

656-648: The Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial . Southern Indiana is home to about a dozen higher education institutions, including Indiana University Bloomington , the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. The Catholic Church has a significant presence in the region, including Saint Meinrad Archabbey , the Monastery Immaculate Conception , and Mount Saint Francis. The region is split between

697-663: The Pulitzer Prize Board from 1995 to 2004. After ending his op-ed column, he became the full-time chief executive of the Dana Foundation , where he was chairman from 2000. In 2006, Safire was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush . Portions of Safire's FBI file were released in 2010. The documents "detail wiretapping ordered by the Nixon administration, including

738-719: The Pulitzer Prize for Commentary on Bert Lance 's alleged budgetary irregularities; in 1981, Lance was acquitted by a jury on all nine charges. Safire's column on October 27, 1980, entitled "The Ayatollah Votes", was quoted in a campaign ad for Ronald Reagan in that year's presidential election . Safire also frequently appeared on the NBC 's Meet the Press . Upon announcing the retirement of Safire's political column in 2005, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. , publisher of The New York Times , said: The New York Times without Bill Safire

779-431: 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 stand, but we can not promise the full nine yards. The idiom was used three more times in the Mitchell Commercial over the next seven years, in the forms give him the whole nine yards (i.e., tell someone a big story), take the whole nine yards (i.e., take everything), and settled

820-573: The commencement address at Syracuse in 1978 and 1990, and later became a trustee of the university. He was a public relations executive from 1955 to 1960. Previously, he had been a radio and television producer and an Army correspondent . He worked as a publicist for a homebuilder who exhibited a model home at an American trade fair at Sokolniki Park in Moscow in 1959—the one in which Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev had their Kitchen Debate . A much circulated black-and-white photograph of

861-441: The craftsmanship, then struggles to pull it on, until he "[finds] himself enshrouded in a shirt five yards long and four yards broad". He is unable to see beyond the collar and expresses his astonishment at the "monstrous shirt". At the punch line of the story, Mr. C pretends to be innocent of his prank and exclaims, "What a silly, stupid woman! I told her to get just enough to make three shirts; instead of making three, she has put

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902-609: The earliest known usage back to 1967. Yale University librarian Fred R. Shapiro described it as "the most prominent etymological riddle of our time". Several key discoveries in further antedating the phrase were made by Bonnie Taylor-Blake, a neuroscience researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an amateur member of the American Dialect Society , an association of professional and amateur linguists whose mailing list often serves as

943-420: The event was taken by Safire. Safire joined Nixon's campaign for the 1960 presidential race , and again in 1968 . After Nixon's 1968 victory, Safire served as a speechwriter for him and for Spiro Agnew ; he is known for having created Agnew's famous alliterative term, "nattering nabobs of negativism". Safire prepared a speech called "In Event of Moon Disaster" for President Nixon to deliver on television if

984-728: The flagship campus of the Indiana University system, IU Bloomington . The "‡" symbol indicates universities with main campuses outside Southern Indiana. There are two professional sports teams in the region, both located in Evansville – the Evansville Thunderbolts (founded in 2018), and the Evansville Otters (founded in 1995) play in baseball's independent Frontier League . William Safire William Lewis Safire ( / ˈ s æ f aɪər / ; né Safir ; December 17, 1929 – September 27, 2009 )

1025-501: The news for this issue we will give you the whole six yards in our next." The six-yard form of the phrase also appears in a 1917 Arkansas paper ("...he may write me personally and I'll give him the whole six yards."); a South Carolina newspaper headline;, in a Lawrenceville, Georgia newspaper in 1922, and in the text of a 1927 Missouri paper ("we heard the whole six yards--where did you lose your letter?"). Post-war usages of "the whole/full nine yards" have been found between 1946 and 1951 in

1066-421: The origin, though many early published quotations are now available for study. A vast number of explanations for this phrase have been suggested; however many of these are no longer viable in light of what is now known about the phrase's history. Southern Indiana Southern Indiana is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern third of the U.S. state of Indiana and borders

1107-568: The phrase in the New Albany Daily Ledger ( New Albany, Indiana , January 30, 1855) in a comedic short story titled "The Judge's Big Shirt." The humorous anecdote follows Judge A., who regularly neglected packing a second shirt during his travels. He arrives in Raleigh, North Carolina as part of a business trip. While hoping to find a shirt to borrow, he hints to his lawyer friend (Mr. C.) that he needs one in order to attend

1148-430: The phrase. The phrase was explained as something "teenagers say" in a military-oriented magazine in 1965. Citations from 1966 show the phrase was used by a former U.S. Army airman, and also in a publication for military test pilots. It is also recorded in two contemporary novels concerning the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam, Carl Krueger's Wings of a Tiger (1966), and Elaine Shepard's The Doom Pussy (1967). William Safire ,

1189-846: The rest of the state linguistically. Southern dialect and South Midland dialect of American English are prevalent, as opposed to the Inland North dialect in far Northern Indiana and the North Midland dialect in Central and North-Central Indiana. Southern Indiana is the northernmost extent of the South Midland region, forming what linguists refer to as the " Hoosier Apex" of the South Midland dialect. About 12 accredited institutions of higher education are located throughout Southern Indiana, including some private, liberal arts colleges and multiple public university campuses, including

1230-556: The rest of the state. It is often considered to be part of the Upland South and the Southern influenced Lower Midwest. The Wabash and Ohio rivers form the region's western and southern boundaries, respectively. Elevation ranges from around 360 feet (110 m) above mean sea level at the rivers' confluence to 1,060 feet (320 m) at the highest point in the Knobstone Escarpment . Southern Indiana's topography

1271-458: The specific instances cited, but said that she did not feel offended for herself, but for her mother's sake. According to Bill Clinton's press secretary at the time, Mike McCurry , "the President, if he were not the President, would have delivered a more forceful response to that on the bridge of Mr. Safire's nose". Safire was one of several voices who called for war with Iraq , and predicted

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1312-499: The states of Illinois to the west, Kentucky to the south, and Ohio to the east. Spanning the state's southernmost 33 counties, its main population centers include Southwestern Indiana (anchored by the city of Evansville ), the Louisville metropolitan area (south), and the Cincinnati metropolitan area (southeast). The region's history and geography have led to a blending of Southern and Midwestern cultures, distinct from

1353-519: The tapping of Safire's phone". In addition to his political columns, Safire wrote a column, " On Language ", in the weekly The New York Times Magazine from 1979 until the month of his death. Many of the columns were collected in books. According to the linguist Geoffrey Pullum , over the years Safire became less of a "grammar-nitpicker," and Benjamin Zimmer cited Safire's willingness to learn from descriptive linguists. Another book on language

1394-480: The whole nine yards (i.e., resolved everything). In other uses from this time period, the phrase was given as the whole six yards . In 1912, a local newspaper in Kentucky asked readers to, "Just wait boys until the fix gets to a fever heat and they will tell the whole six yards." The same newspaper repeated the phrase soon afterward in another issue, stating "As we have been gone for a few days and failed to get all

1435-591: The whole nine yards into one shirt!" Despite this, the Judge attends the party, stuffing the shirt into his undergarments. He is later forced to explain the story to his wife, after which the lawyer feels at liberty to share the story with friends. The first known use of the phrase as an idiom appears in The Mitchell Commercial , a newspaper in the small town of Mitchell, Indiana , in its May 2, 1907 edition: This afternoon at 2:30 will be called one of

1476-401: Was The New Language of Politics (1968), which developed into what Zimmer called Safire's "magnum opus," Safire's Political Dictionary . Safire described himself as a " libertarian conservative ". A Washington Post story on the ending of his op-ed column quotes him on the subject: I'm willing to zap conservatives when they do things that are not libertarian. [After the 9/11 attacks ,] I

1517-571: Was Jewish and of Romanian origin on his father's side. Safire later added the "e" to his surname for pronunciation reasons, although some of his relatives continued to use the original spelling. Safire graduated from the Bronx High School of Science , a specialized public high school in New York City. He attended S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University but dropped out after two years. He delivered

1558-583: Was an American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter . He was a long-time syndicated political columnist for The New York Times and wrote the "On Language" column in The New York Times Magazine about popular etymology , new or unusual usages, and other language -related topics. Safire was born William Lewis Safir in New York City , the son of Ida ( née Panish) and Oliver Craus Safir. His family

1599-687: Was staunchly pro-Israel. He received the Guardian of Zion Award of Bar-Ilan University in 2005. President George W. Bush appointed him to serve on the Honorary Delegation to accompany him to Jerusalem for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel in May 2008. Safire died from pancreatic cancer at a hospice in Rockville, Maryland , on September 27, 2009, aged 79. He

1640-542: Was the first area of the state to be settled by European colonists. Founded in 1732, Vincennes is the oldest continually inhabited European settlement in Indiana and served as the first capital of the Indiana Territory ; Corydon would later serve as the state's first capital. Protected areas include Charles C. Deam Wilderness Area , George Rogers Clark National Historical Park , Hoosier National Forest , and

1681-405: Was the first to really go after George W. on his treatment of prisoners. After voting for Bill Clinton in 1992 , Safire became one of the leading critics of Clinton's administration . Hillary Clinton in particular was often the target of his ire. He caused controversy in a January 8, 1996, essay when, after reviewing her record, he concluded she was a "congenital liar". She did not respond to

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