Who’s the Monty of ‘The Full Monty’?

In 1997’s The Full Monty, a group of unemployed Northern English men decide to star in their own Chippendales-style revue for some cash. But unlike Chippendales shows, this one will feature the full monty—in other words, the guys plan to get completely naked.

It’s a particularly famous use of the full monty, a British expression that doesn’t necessarily refer to nudity. It just means “everything” or “the works,” much like the whole nine yards.

Which leaves us with one question: Who’s Monty?

1. The Field Marshal Montgomery Theory
2. The Montague Burton Theory
3. The Gambling Theory

The Field Marshal Montgomery Theory

Nobody really knows. But according to one common theory, Monty is Bernard Law “Monty” Montgomery, a.k.a. Field Marshal Montgomery, an esteemed British officer in both world wars. Montgomery purportedly earned a reputation during World War II for enjoying a full English breakfast—bacon, sausage, eggs, black pudding, beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, and toast—throughout the North Africa campaign. As the story goes, people started calling it “the full monty,” and the meaning of the phrase broadened beyond breakfast after the war.

Alternate ideas suggest that it’s a nod to Montgomery clad in all his medals or to his penchant for rambling briefings. All three theories lack evidence, so scholarly sources tend to consider them apocryphal.

The Montague Burton Theory

A more promising Monty is Montague Burton, a tailor who founded the British menswear retailer Burton (originally the Cross-Tailoring Company) and manufactured uniforms for British soldiers during both world wars. After World War II, Burton also participated in Britain’s program of issuing complimentary civilian suits—known as demobilization or demob suits—to veterans.

Details differ on what exactly got called “the full monty.” Some say it was any three-piece Burton suit, while the Burton website says it was specific to the demob suit. In What Made the Crocodile Cry?: 101 Questions About the English Language, author Susie Dent recounts another version: that Burton “was said to offer both a two-piece suit as the standard and also a waistcoat and spare pair of trousers for an additional cost.” The latter got nicknamed “the full monty.” But Dent also stresses that the theory “is by no means proven beyond doubt.”

The Gambling Theory

It’s also possible that Monty wasn’t a person: Some people suggest that the full monty originated as a gambling expression. In Australia and New Zealand, per the Oxford English Dictionary, monty is an old slang term for “a horse considered a safe bet to win a race” (or indeed for any certainty). It’s believed to derive from monte, the name of a Spanish card game involving gambling; so perhaps the full monty originally referred to the pot in such a game (i.e., the total money all players have bet). Sources are less clear on the phrase’s connection to monty in the horse-racing sense, but it’s not hard to imagine it as shorthand for putting all your money on the surefire winner.

There are other theories, too—that the full monty evolved from the full amount, that it’s a nod to bales of wool from Montevideo, and so forth. You can explore more options on Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words blog (though he thinks Montague Burton is our best bet).

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