Chrysti The Wordsmith: The Whole - 7

Hi word lovers this is Christie the wordsmith American English has an abundance of expressions beginning with the words the whole and meaning all or everything. The whole nine yards. The whole enchilada the whole she bang and several others. Today will spotlight another in this class of cliches. The whole ball of wax. This familiar phrase has mystified many an etymologist since the origin of the expression and the type of wax involved are ultimately unknown. Several theories exist for the derivation of this fugitive phrase one that circulated for years. Cites a 17th century English legal text that involves allocating inherited land among siblings by rolling scraps of paper into wax balls with each scrap of paper designating a portion of land each air drew his lot then unwrapped his whole ball of wax or his entire inheritance. There's a bit of a problem though with this 17th century scenario. The phrase the whole ball of wax was not seen in print until the late

19th century and not in England but in the Atlanta Constitution of April 20 5th 1900 to where it was used to refer to a realtor selling real estate. All of it. The whole ball of wax at auction. I'm Christie the wordsmith. Join me next time for more of the whole ball of wax. This series is produced in the studios of TFM on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman. Good day verbal force. CHRISTIE The wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.