Why Do Devout Jehovah's Witnesses Refrain From Saying Someone is "Dressed to the Nines".

[The Librarian]

Dear Reader:

 It refers to the nine gods of art and creativity, so the expression literally means that a person is dressed so well that it honors those nine gods. But as you see the term has lost all of its meaning... so if it's lost all of its meaning and no one knows what it references, then is it ok to use since no one will take it the way it was originally meant? That is the personal choice that has to be made.

Agape!

[Ann O'Maly]

I've heard devout JWs use the expression. 

Some say the phrase comes from an old Scottish poem; others say it originates from the 99th 'The Nines' Wiltshire Regiment who were known for being very smartly presented. There are other hypotheses, but Its origin is unclear.

I've not come across the 'nine gods' idea before. Given that no support has been provided, I'm guessing it's been made up.

 

 

[JW Insider]

I think the closest explanation would be the following from http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/dressed-to-the-nines.html:

Quote

 

The Poetick Miscellenies of Mr John Rawlett, 1687, provides the earliest reference to 'to the Nine' that I can find:

The learned tribe whose works the World do bless,
Finish those works in some recess;
Both the Philosopher and Divine,
And Poets most who still make their address
In private to the Nine.

It seems clear that 'the Nine' that Rawlett was referring to were the Nine Muses. It is just as clear that 'dressed to the nines' is merely an extension of 'to the nine/s' and that we could equally well 'dance to the nines' or 'etymologise to the nines'. The search for the link between 'nines' and dress sense has unearthed no convincing candidates.

 

I think what he has missed is the fact that poetry of this time period, as with Shakespeare's, often got mangled when quoted. I think that the real source is from the poem, but I'm guessing that it's based on a mangling of the original idea. What the poets and authors wrote, they "addressed to the Nines." [the creative muses] Therefore, anything that is extremely well-said or well-written (or poorly written, if you are being sarcastic) is therefore "addressed to the Nines." Especially "highfalutin" language, often combined with "highfalutin" dress, would become a candidate for saying it was was [ad]dressed to the Nines. The contraction 'dressed for addressed would make the phrase quickly evolve into a reference for highfalutin dress rather than language.