One of the things that makes languages vibrant and alive is the use of slang. Slang arises in casual conversation among members of a cohesive group. The slang words that evolve from these conversations are not necessarily intended to hide their meanings from outsiders, but rather to signal and reinforce group membership.
Casual conversations are sometimes known as kibitzing. Kibitz is a strange word and isn’t directly related to language or to talking or even to humans. The word refers to birds: the northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) also known as the pewit, peewit, tuit, tew-it, green plover, or pyewipe. These birds gather in flocks in fields and pastures. The common human interpretation of the birds’ behavior is that they are showing a general curiosity about the world. In reality, their concern is more likely about food, or the edible part of the world.
When the northern lapwing flocks gather in the fields their cries have been interpreted as pewit or as kiebitz. In German, the lapwings are known as kiebitz and the word came to be applied to human busybodies who flocked together to gossip. The word passed from German into Yiddish as kibitsen and from Yiddish into English where it became kibitz.
In linguistics, jargon refers to the technical vocabulary used by a particular profession. Like slang, the use of jargon signals in-group affiliation, but, unlike slang, jargon facilitates more accurate communication. In American English, there has been a pattern of military jargon entering into everyday English as slang during periods of war. The slang phrase the whole kit and caboodle seems to have become common in American English during the Civil War in the 1860s. While kit may have been military jargon, caboodle was not, and so our etymology has to go a bit deeper in both time and geography.
In the mid-nineteenth century and earlier there were a number of slang expressions used to mean everything. These included: kit and cargo; kit and biling (note: biling is a regional pronunciation of boiling and refers to the whole batch of soup or stew, i.e. the boiling); all and everything; top and tail; plow and poop; and lock, stock, and barrel. Among these expressions was also kit and boodle which became shortened to kaboodle.
Our next step is to look at the origins of kit and boodle and this takes us into what linguists call argot: the secret jargon or language used by the underworld (i.e. criminals).
Let’s start with kit, a word which entered into English in the eighteenth century as slang for outfit or collection. With regard to etymology, kit seems to be from the Middle Dutch kitte which referred to a cask made from wooden staves. Over time, kitte was used to refer to a small basket used to carry various articles and later took on the meaning of the articles which were carried. In English military jargon, kit referred to all the items carried by a soldier.
In the argot of burglars, kit refers to the tools needed to break into a house, business, or warehouse. The stuff that was taken during the burglary was sold and thus converted into money, which in the argot of the nineteenth century criminal underworld was called boodle. The term boodle also referred to the large roll of bills flashed by some gangsters. The etymological origins of boodle may be found in the Dutch boedel which means “property or money.”
With its origins in jargon and argot, the slang term the whole kit and caboodle has enriched the English language and that is the plow and poop, the top and tail, of the story.
More about the English language
Origins of English: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper
Origins of English: The Search for Indo-European Roots
Origins of English: The Anglo-Saxon Roots
Origins of English: Kinds of meat
Origins of English: Some Cat Expressions
Origins of English: World War II Lingo
Origins of English: World War I Words
Origins of English: Dunce