The Whole 9 Yards

[DREDger]

I bet many of you know this already, but I just heard this.  I had always wondered what the expression the whole 9 yards meant, seeing as how a first down comes with 10 yards (seemed counterintuitive in the context of going all out).

Appearantly the belts of 50 cal ammunition came in 27-foot sections.  So 'giving the whole 9 yards' was a fighter pilot expression of expending all your ammo on one target.

This is true yes?

[dedalos]

I don't think so

[gyrene81]

The ammunition belt example has been used by military personnel...but here is one reference with other references cited:

Origin of the Whole 9 Yards

[Nwbie]

this makes more sense to me because it seems a lot of nautical terms have been used through the ages

From that link up there   ^
                                  |


the whole nine yards
If you look at a "typical square-rigger" (see the picture in the front pages of any of the O'Brian books you will see that there are three masts with three yards on each mast. So if you had all of the square sails a flying on board you would have the whole nine yards in operation. ie. everything.
[Bill Strauss (wstrauss@frbchi.org)]

[Saxman]

I've heard that one, and you can almost positively say it's NOT true. Even aircraft with the same types of guns didn't all carry the same ammunition load (IE, the P-40E vs. the F4U-1D. One ad 240rpg, the other 400). Therefore, the ammunition belts wouldn't ALL have been 9 yards long, meaning this would make no sense.

[batch]

actually nobody knows for sure where the phrase comes from...... there are tons of different theories as to its origin....... from gun belts to boat masts to fabric bolts to mens suits to womens dresses to burial garments to burial shrouds etc etc etc....... the list goes on

as is with so many common phrases we use today...... theres many different opinions on origin

another that I always pondered was "the rule of thumb" (again many different theories)........ one such:

in the old days (back when heeler was only 100) it was still legal for a man to hit his wife and even with a stick but that stick could be no larger than his thumb

[morfiend]

Hmmm I'd heard that it was the length of the belt of ammo on WW1 planes and so the term was coined as in I gave him the whole nine yards,meaning he emptied his ammo into him.

 But after reading this thread and checking the link provided I see it possibly has come from several different sources.  quite an interesting topic,I have 2 terms I'd like to hear where they came from.

1  he's getting the axe!  2 your not upto scratch!   Oh and 1 more why wont you toe the line?

[Saxman]

Hmmm I'd heard that it was the length of the belt of ammo on WW1 planes and so the term was coined as in I gave him the whole nine yards,meaning he emptied his ammo into him.

 But after reading this thread and checking the link provided I see it possibly has come from several different sources.  quite an interesting topic,I have 2 terms I'd like to hear where they came from.

1  he's getting the axe!  2 your not upto scratch!   Oh and 1 more why wont you toe the line?

I'm sure getting the axe has some sort of medieval connotation (as beheading by axe was a common means of execution at the time).

[morfiend]

Actually Sax I gave a loaded question,as I know the answers,well I think I know but I'll wait and see some other replies.BTW your close but not quite on the money....

   

   

[AKKuya]

The expression was an English term referring to the police districts of the 19th Century.  Scotland Yard being the most prominent among the constabulary.  This was a term that pre-dated the BOLO (Be On the Lookout) and APB (All Points Bulletin).  At one time in England, there was nine police districts and for a manhunt to be made nationwide.  Telegraph and horse riders would be dispatchd to the police HQ's and the phrase "The Whole Nine Yards" was born.