"The whole nine yards"
Robert Lieblich
>
> The whole nine yards of what? And what's a "kit and kabotle?"
Alt.usage.english has a FAQ that answers at least the first of these.
You can find it at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/alt-usage-english-faq/ --
look in the section on "phrase origins."
The second phrase you asked about is spelled "kit and caboodle." You
can find "caboodle" defined at:
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=caboodle
The phrase basically means just "bunch of stuff."
Most common English phrases are defined or explained in multiple places
on the Internet.
Bob Lieblich
Kolaga Xiuhtecuhtli
Ellen Mizzell
> Kolaga Xiuhtecuhtli wrote:
>>
>> The whole nine yards of what? And what's a "kit and kabotle?"
> Alt.usage.english has a FAQ that answers at least the first of these.
> You can find it at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/alt-usage-english-faq/ --
> look in the section on "phrase origins."
> The second phrase you asked about is spelled "kit and caboodle." You
> can find "caboodle" defined at:
> http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=caboodle
Though I've never found that 'boedel' theory very convincing. I
see that Merriam-Webster assert it as fact, but the Shorter Oxford
says "perhaps", so I don't see why we shouldn't continue to
speculate, as long as we don't frighten the horses.
"Kaboodle" always makes me think of "bookoodles", which when I was
growing up in Alabama was a synonym for "a lot of". "They've got
bookoodles of money". It's pretty obvious that "bookoodles" is a
corruption of "beaucoup de", and I wonder whether "kaboodle" might
not also be related to "beaucoup de".
> Most common English phrases are defined or explained in multiple places
> on the Internet.
In multiple ways, too.
--
Ellen Mizzell
Richard Fontana
> "Kaboodle" always makes me think of "bookoodles", which when I was
> growing up in Alabama was a synonym for "a lot of". "They've got
> bookoodles of money". It's pretty obvious that "bookoodles" is a
> corruption of "beaucoup de", and I wonder whether "kaboodle" might
> not also be related to "beaucoup de".
Not long ago I posted a message on that other newsgroup about "boo-koo", a
strange word meaning "a lot of" which I once heard a Texan use. In fact I
think he used it in the phrase "bookoo bucks", meaning a lot of money.
I was immediately rebuked and told that that word was used everywhere and
had been around for ages. But I never heard it before that one time, and
have never heard it since. A person from the South also mentioned
"bookoodles", and I think it is conceivable that "bookoo" and "bookoodles"
are more common in southern or southern-influenced regions of the US.
(Perhaps a Louisianan influence?)
RF
William Harshaw
Richard Fontana <rf...@is9.nyu.edu> wrote in message
news:Pine.GSO.3.96.990516...@is9.nyu.edu...
"Beaucoup" was common in Vietnam in the 1960's. I guess that
qualifies as having been around for "ages". The South may have
contributed more than its share to the military so RF may be right.
Ellen Mizzell
Mightn't that be a legacy of Vietnam's French colonial past?
I'm in little doubt that "bookoodles" is a southernism. You can
tell, though don't ask me to explain how. And yes, one assumes it's
the cajun influence.
--
Ellen Mizzell
Dr Robin Bignall
or 'a lot of' and one would expect to find it in Vietnam, a French
ex-colony.(Or is that ex-French colony?) We've certainly got caboodle in the
UK as part of 'kit and caboodle but the 'bookoodle' is a new one. Having
'beaucoup' brought back by US vets from Vietnam and turned into 'bookoodle'
is a nice story. Or is it one of those urban legends that we were discussing
a week or two ago?
--
Wrmst rgds...
RB(docr...@cwcom.net)
William Harshaw wrote in message <7hnc6c$sv8$1...@bgtnsc01.worldnet.att.net>...
>
>Richard Fontana <rf...@is9.nyu.edu> wrote in message
>news:Pine.GSO.3.96.990516...@is9.nyu.edu...
>> On 16 May 1999, Ellen Mizzell wrote:
>>
>> > "Kaboodle" always makes me think of "bookoodles", which when I was
<snip>
Ellen Mizzell
> Unless I'm missing the point, 'beaucoup' is just ordinary French for 'much'
> or 'a lot of' and one would expect to find it in Vietnam, a French
> ex-colony.(Or is that ex-French colony?) We've certainly got caboodle in the
> UK as part of 'kit and caboodle but the 'bookoodle' is a new one. Having
> 'beaucoup' brought back by US vets from Vietnam and turned into 'bookoodle'
> is a nice story. Or is it one of those urban legends that we were discussing
> a week or two ago?
Nice story or not, it's not what happened. 'Bookoodles' was in use
in the US South long before the Vietnam war. And 'kit and kaboodle'
is known in the UK but only because it's been imported from the US.
--
Ellen Mizzell
Clay
Ellen Mizzell <$news1$@nospam.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
<7hnkic$1am$1...@tictac.demon.co.uk>...
Zealand after WW1, and that it was a British expression. I would love to
know it's origins!
Cheers,
Clay
heron stone
vietnam
+ it was part of the g.i. argot along with "number
one" for good and "number 10" for bad
+ the french connection was obvious
heron
>> "Kaboodle" always makes me think of "bookoodles", which when I was
>> growing up in Alabama was a synonym for "a lot of". "They've got
>> bookoodles of money". It's pretty obvious that "bookoodles" is a
>> corruption of "beaucoup de", and I wonder whether "kaboodle" might
>> not also be related to "beaucoup de".
>
>Not long ago I posted a message on that other newsgroup about "boo-koo", a
>strange word meaning "a lot of" which I once heard a Texan use. In fact I
>think he used it in the phrase "bookoo bucks", meaning a lot of money.
>I was immediately rebuked and told that that word was used everywhere and
>had been around for ages. But I never heard it before that one time, and
>have never heard it since. A person from the South also mentioned
>"bookoodles", and I think it is conceivable that "bookoo" and "bookoodles"
>are more common in southern or southern-influenced regions of the US.
>(Perhaps a Louisianan influence?)
>
>RF
--
_______________________________________________________________________
ecstatic wonder heron stone
is our natural state mailto:her...@earthlink.net
don't settle for anything less http://home.earthlink.net/~herons/
Richard Fontana
> + the first time/place i heard boo-koo was in
> vietnam
> + it was part of the g.i. argot along with "number
> one" for good and "number 10" for bad
>
> + the french connection was obvious
+ thank you heron
+ i find that many of the colloquialisms that everyone seems to know but
i've never heard of turn out to be military slang
- rf
vellov
since my early childhood (I'm in my late thirties.) 'He's got oodles of
money.' - loads and loads. It feels like upper-class slang to me. Do you
think oodle might be related to caboodle? They seem to have a good deal in
common.
with respect
vellov
Clay wrote in message <92692447...@pmr.ihug.co.nz>...
Ellen Mizzell
> The word 'oodles' has been around in the UK for quite a while, certainly
> since my early childhood (I'm in my late thirties.) 'He's got oodles of
> money.' - loads and loads. It feels like upper-class slang to me. Do you
> think oodle might be related to caboodle? They seem to have a good deal in
> common.
They do, don't they? They might be related, or it might be that
'oodles' and 'beaucoup de' sort of merged into 'bookoodles' in
some Southern speech. That wouldn't surprise me.
At any rate, 'oodles' probably didn't start life as upper-class
slang. The Shorter Oxford says it's American [1839].
--
Ellen Mizzell
Richard Fontana
> In article <7hsa3h$mdb$1...@news5.svr.pol.co.uk>, vellov <vel...@control98.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> > The word 'oodles' has been around in the UK for quite a while, certainly
> > since my early childhood (I'm in my late thirties.) 'He's got oodles of
> > money.' - loads and loads. It feels like upper-class slang to me. Do you
> > think oodle might be related to caboodle? They seem to have a good deal in
> > common.
>
> They do, don't they? They might be related, or it might be that
> 'oodles' and 'beaucoup de' sort of merged into 'bookoodles' in
> some Southern speech. That wouldn't surprise me.
That sounds likely. I've been hearing oodles since the beginning of time,
but not bookoodles.
> At any rate, 'oodles' probably didn't start life as upper-class
> slang. The Shorter Oxford says it's American [1839].
I don't think of it as upper-class myself. Somewhat old-fashioned, maybe.
RF
Ellen Mizzell
> In article <7hsa3h$mdb$1...@news5.svr.pol.co.uk>, vellov <vel...@control98.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>> The word 'oodles' has been around in the UK for quite a while, certainly
>> since my early childhood (I'm in my late thirties.) 'He's got oodles of
>> money.' - loads and loads. It feels like upper-class slang to me. Do you
>> think oodle might be related to caboodle? They seem to have a good deal in
>> common.
> They do, don't they? They might be related,
But on considering, I don't think so. I've never heard oodles in the
singular or kaboodle in the plural.
I'm still not convinced by the 'boedel' theory, though.
--
Ellen Mizzell
M.J.Powell
Richard Fontana <rf...@is9.nyu.edu> writes
>On 18 May 1999, Ellen Mizzell wrote:
>
>> In article <7hsa3h$mdb$1...@news5.svr.pol.co.uk>, vellov <vel...@control98.freese
>rve.co.uk> wrote:
>> > The word 'oodles' has been around in the UK for quite a while, certainly
>> > since my early childhood (I'm in my late thirties.) 'He's got oodles of
>> > money.' - loads and loads. It feels like upper-class slang to me. Do you
>> > think oodle might be related to caboodle? They seem to have a good deal in
>> > common.
>>
>> 'oodles' and 'beaucoup de' sort of merged into 'bookoodles' in
>> some Southern speech. That wouldn't surprise me.
>
>That sounds likely. I've been hearing oodles since the beginning of time,
>but not bookoodles.
>
>> At any rate, 'oodles' probably didn't start life as upper-class
>> slang. The Shorter Oxford says it's American [1839].
>
>I don't think of it as upper-class myself. Somewhat old-fashioned, maybe.
Like 'bags of'?
--
Mike The life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have
Is yours.
PPrictoe
> since my early childhood (I'm in my late thirties.) 'He's got oodles of
> money.' - loads and loads. It feels like upper-class slang to me. Do you
> think oodle might be related to caboodle? They seem to have a good deal in
> common.
PP The words oodle ( very rare though) and oodles (common) I have known all my
seventy odd years.
Caboodle is new to me.
Peter
PPrictoe
for on checking with my wife I realised that the expression
"The whole caboodle" is in common use
and dates back to at least WWII
Though caboodle on its own is still oddly unfamiliar.
Peter Prictoe