Dear Colleagues,
The appeal below is posted on behalf of Edmund Moriarty, researcher for the Takeaway Media/BBC2 "Wordhunt".
If anyone with etymological interests would like to help, please feel free either to contact me or Edmund directly.
Many thanks in advance,
Rachel Kirkwood
--
Ms Rachel Kirkwood MSc., Deputy Librarian & Language Resource Centre Manager, Goethe-Institut London
50 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2PH
Information Service: 020 7596 4044 mon-thur 10:00 - 17:00 mailto:[log in to unmask]
www.goethe.de/london
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Edmund [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Gesendet: Montag, 7. November 2005 17:36
An: Kirkwood Rachel
Betreff: appeal to Germanists: The Full Monty/Die Volle Montur
I am a researcher for a BBC2 6-part documentary series (in
collaboration with the OED) about the origins of words and
phrases in the English Language (see
www.bbc.co.uk/wordhunt for more on our project).
The Full Monty' has perhaps the greatest variety of
theories (and folk etymologies!) of any of our films, one
of which is that it could be a corruption of the German
phrase "Die Volle Montur".
It seems interesting that 2 different reviews of The
English film, The Full Monty (actually translated 'Ganz
Oder Gar Nicht') refer to 'Die Volle Montur/The Full
monty'. Here is an excerpt from one of them:
"Das Problem ist eben, daß unsere "Helden" nicht ganz so
schön anzusehen sind, also muß man dem weiblichen Publikum
etwas bieten, was sie sonst nicht zu sehen bekommen: Sie
versprechen, bei ihrer Show, die volle Montur abzulegen -
bis auf die letzte Hülle."
Also: "- sie versprechen dem Publikum, nicht beim
Lederslip aufzuhören, sondern die volle Montur vorzuführen
- «The Full Monty» eben."
This at least suggest that the native German speaker
exhibits some knowledge of a connection between the German
and English phrases.
I would sincerely appreciate any thoughts on the above.
The OED cannot prove any of the current theories for the
origin of this phrase, but I wonder if anyone thinks that
this theory could hold water? Please feel free to contact
me at the addresses and numbers below.
Many thanks,
Edmund Moriarty
Takeaway Media
132 Grafton Road
London NW5 4BA
Tel: 020 7424 8591
Mob: 07702 256088
Fax: 020 7284 4888
Join the Wordhunt:
www.bbc.co.uk/wordhunt
www.oed.com/bbcwordhunt
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