Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 October 1882 — Nine Tailors Make a Man. [ARTICLE]

Nine Tailors Make a Man.

The word tailor, in the phrase “Nine tailors make a man,” had originaUy (says an exchange) no sartorial reference at all. From Queen Elizabeth —who is said to have acknowledged an address from eighteen tailors by saying, “Thanks, gentlemen both—” to Carlyle, the saying has been mistaken. The original -word is “taler.” The exact spelling is not known, but it is connected with the “tally” of “tale” of Milton’s shepherd; or it may be “tollers.” In some parts of England on the death of a parishioner, the church-bell tolled once, three times, etc., according to the age of the dead person; say, once for an infant, three times for a girl, but always nine times for a man. So passers-bv would say, when the bell had a topped, “Nine talers make a man.”