Date: Fri, 15 Aug 1997 23:35:44 EDT

From: Larry Horn LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU

Subject: More on Monty



From a letter to today's New York Times (8/15/97, A30):



Your Aug. 13 movie review of "The Full Monty", on unemployed British

steelworkers who turn to stripping, says the title comes from the slang

for total nudity. Older readers might have recognized "Monty" as Field

Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the dapper World War II hero. If the phrase

now means total nudity, it is a reversal, like "bad" meaning "good". The

original meaning was similar to "dressed to the hilt" (with medals and

swagger stick)...



I can't vouch for the accuracy of the etymology advanced by the writer, a

Brooklynite named Paul Brodtkorb. And if anyone's wondering, that earlier

review assured potential viewers that the movie contained no "full frontal

montyism". --Larry