Re: The Full Monty - german explanation?

Posted by Robwo on December 27, 2002

In Reply to: The Full Monty - german explanation? posted by A.A. on December 26, 2002

: hi, I just read your explanation for "the full monty" and it surprised me because I thought I knew where the phrase came from... i'm from austria, a german-speaking country, and I thought 'monty' was nothing more than a short version of the english version of "Montur". well, now I found there is no english version of the word, but "die volle Montur" (a word to word translation of 'the full monty') is also a german phrase, describing exactly the same meaning - and in our language it does make sense.
: "Montur" is a german word related to "Montage" ('installation, erection, assembly, montage') and may be translated as 'gear', 'ring-out' and 'uniform' - meaning everything a soldier needs to wear and carry with him. the full monty would be exactly that.
: as a bonus, "Montur" is borrowed from late latin *montare, 'to climb a mountain' (just because you wrote about this pile of cards called a 'monte').
: what do you think?

Spellweb (a counting 'meta' search engine) tells us that it found over 1M pages with "the full monty" and 4K pages containing "die volle Montur".

Possible explanations are:
1. The English version is older and so has more usage
2. The English version has more currency because of the movie and a greater number of websites in English.

I dislike #2 because a 250:1 ratio is too overwhelming. The local entry mentions first in print in 1986. I have the impression I heard it in film much earlier. Anyone else?