(See also INCLUSIVENESS, THOROUGHNESS.)

ins and outs All the details of a subject, occurrence, etc.; all there is to know about something, including nuances and subtle particulars. Some say ins originally referred to the party in government, and outs to the opposition? However, the meaning of ins and outs suggests wholeness and entirety because of the conjunction of opposites, regardless of what each opposite signifies. A somewhat literal application of this phrase is in reference to the windings and turnings in a road, and by extension, of less concrete things, such as a plan or course of action.

love me, love my dog A proverbial way of saying “If you love me, you must accept my faults along with my good qualities.” Dog stands for an unpleasant or undesirable but intrinsic part of a person’s character, one that cannot be ignored or avoided. John Heywood used this expression in his Proverbs (1546). It is also said to have been a popular 12th-century Latin proverb from the writings of Saint Bernard: Qui me amat, amet et canem meum.

thread and thrum A whole, a totality; anything taken in its entirety, particularly when such is seen as embracing both positive and negative elements; the good and the bad, the wheat and the chaff, the virtues and the vices. Thread and thrum represents the entire length of warp yarn, including the tuft which fastens it to the loom and which remains so attached when the web is cut off. In Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bottom as Pyramus discovers the blood-stained mantle of his beloved Thisbe and presumes her dead, whereupon he asks the Fates to make the destruction complete:

The above use also plays on the notion that the Fates determine man’s life by spinning, measuring, and cutting its thread at whim. See also threads and thrums, MIXTURE.

the whole ball of wax Any entity taken as a totality; any matter or concern together with its ramifications, implications, and consequences; its components, particulars, and details, etc. No satisfactory explanation or origin for this very common expression has yet been found.