the whole shebang
everything
TRANSLATION
the whole shebang= der ganze Kram --- GOOGLE INDEX the whole shebang: approximately 430,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
The great Blues guitarist BB King kicks THE WHOLE SHEBANG off this evening with a concert at the opening of the Jazz and Blues Festival.
(BBC News)
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The Cowboys were considered favourites to win THE WHOLE SHEBANG. It didn't quite work out that way.
(The Evening Standard)
(BBC News)
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The Cowboys were considered favourites to win THE WHOLE SHEBANG. It didn't quite work out that way.
(The Evening Standard)
Did you
know?
the whole shebang
idiom
- the whole of something, including everything that is connected with it
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
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WORD ORIGIN
This is an American phrase, from the 1920s. The first question is, what exactly is a shebang? The earliest known citation of the word refers to a type of hut or cabin. The expression is found in Walt Whitman's Specimen Days, from Complete Poetry and Collected Prose, 1862:
"Besides the hospitals, I also go occasionally on long tours through the camps, talking with the men. Sometimes at night among the groups around the fires, in their shebang enclosures of bushes."
There may be a link between shebang and the Irish word "shebeen," which has a similar meaning to hut, but this connection cannot be confirmed. The Marysville Tribune printed a list of "The Idioms of Our New West" in 1869 and defined shebang as "any sort of house or office."
Mark Twain also used shebang to refer to a form of vehicle in "Roughing It" from 1872:
"Take back your money, madam. We can't allow it. You're welcome to ride here as long as you please, but this shebang's chartered, and we can't let you pay a cent."
There are a variety of sayings with the word "whole" such as
- the whole ball of wax
- the whole nine yards
- the whole box of dice
- the whole shooting match
- the whole enchilada
- the whole kit and caboodle
Whole is used to emphasise the "everything" facet while the other words are merely used to form a catchy phrase. This is likely how "the whole shebang" developed as well.
(source: The Phrase Finder)
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"I paid for the whole shebang with cash because they don't accept credit cards."
idiom
- the whole of something, including everything that is connected with it
(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
---
WORD ORIGIN
This is an American phrase, from the 1920s. The first question is, what exactly is a shebang? The earliest known citation of the word refers to a type of hut or cabin. The expression is found in Walt Whitman's Specimen Days, from Complete Poetry and Collected Prose, 1862:
"Besides the hospitals, I also go occasionally on long tours through the camps, talking with the men. Sometimes at night among the groups around the fires, in their shebang enclosures of bushes."
There may be a link between shebang and the Irish word "shebeen," which has a similar meaning to hut, but this connection cannot be confirmed. The Marysville Tribune printed a list of "The Idioms of Our New West" in 1869 and defined shebang as "any sort of house or office."
Mark Twain also used shebang to refer to a form of vehicle in "Roughing It" from 1872:
"Take back your money, madam. We can't allow it. You're welcome to ride here as long as you please, but this shebang's chartered, and we can't let you pay a cent."
There are a variety of sayings with the word "whole" such as
- the whole ball of wax
- the whole nine yards
- the whole box of dice
- the whole shooting match
- the whole enchilada
- the whole kit and caboodle
Whole is used to emphasise the "everything" facet while the other words are merely used to form a catchy phrase. This is likely how "the whole shebang" developed as well.
(source: The Phrase Finder)
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"I paid for the whole shebang with cash because they don't accept credit cards."
