Chrysti The Wordsmith: The Whole - 8

Greetings from a force and welcome to Christie the wordsmith. Last time on this series we explored a theory on the derivation of our beloved cliche. The whole ball of wax. One of the many such American expressions that means everything the works the speculation cited a 17th century English practice that allegedly had deeds to inherited land recorded on scraps of paper and rolled into wax balls. Each of the heirs drew a lot then unwrapped his pick to reveal his whole ball of wax or his allocation of the estate. There's another view that suggests the phrase is a reference to the full moon as the lunar cycle progresses the moon is said to be waxing when the moon is full. It becomes a completely waxed disc or ball a phenomenon that could have given us the notion of the whole ball of wax. Well if you don't like that theory here's another Lawrence. Earth Day in the former editor of verbatim the language quarterly weighed in with this ball of

wax often extended to whole ball of wax has puzzled etymologists though its origins seem obvious enough. Wax is not only a substance to which almost anything will stick but also a material which will retain the impression of anything that comes in contact with it. I'm Christi the wordsmith. This series is produced at KGO FM at Montana State University in Bozeman. 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 Web dot com.