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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread The whole nine yards.. #22447 03/12/01 04:34 PM Joined: Mar 2001 Posts: 1 D davedrake1 OP stranger OP davedrake1 stranger D Joined: Mar 2001 Posts: 1 Does anyone know where this phrase comes from? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: The whole nine yards.. #22448 03/12/01 04:50 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 20 Maryland G garynamy stranger garynamy stranger G Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 20 Maryland Ah, Dave, the short answer seems to be "no one has a clue," but read on for the guesses I've heard about. First, you might visit straightdope.com, a very entertaining site that addresses imponderables such as this. The author, Cecil Adams, has addressed this one several times, so you might get more from him. The leading candidates seem to be: Something to do with football. Still, you gotta get 10 yards to make a first down, so this connection is pretty tenuous. Something to do with the clothing industry. Various theories point out that 9 yards of fabric would make a swell suit; others say that that is way too much. I'm no tailor so I have no idea. Something to do with ammunition. If you can picture those Mexican federales in "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," you have it. Those big loopy ammunition straps (whose name escapes me) may have been 9 yards long total, but then again, maybe not. Something to do with WWII. Again, my memory of this is vague, but rest assured, it's another big fat stretch of the imagination. So again, nobody knows, but there's no shortage of theories. Anyone else? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: The whole nine yards.. #22449 03/12/01 04:54 PM Joined: Oct 2000 Posts: 5,400 rego park of troy Carpal Tunnel of troy Carpal Tunnel Joined: Oct 2000 Posts: 5,400 rego park be prepared for a lot of answers-- I have heard two reasonable ideas In the construction industry, a 9 (cubic) yard truck is the norm for concrete trucks If you want to buy concrete-- you must by the "whole nine yards" no matter you only need 3 or 4 yards to complete your job.-- Construction companies would roll together 3 or 4 small jobs-- people who wanted several yards, and "sell the whole nine yards" 3 or 4 times-- Since most of these transaction where in cash-- it became a neat way of generating extra cash-- An alternate idea comes from the military-- a machine gun "strip" was nine yards long-- if you fired the whole nine yards-- that was a lot of ammo. but i am sure others will have ideas-- I am not sure if there really is a definative answer-- but if there is, tsuwm will try to deliver it! my other obsession Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: The whole nine yards.. #22450 03/12/01 05:03 PM Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 10,542 this too shall pass tsuwm Carpal Tunnel tsuwm Carpal Tunnel Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 10,542 this too shall pass as the minions suggest, speculation abounds. here's what I'd do if I wanted to read the whole nine yards: go to google.com and type in... "whole nine yards" derivation (include quotation marks) as usual, I like Quinion's take... http://www.quinion.com/words/articles/nineyards.htm (as he points out, this is the second-most asked question in all of linguistics, the first being that execrable -gry query.) Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary Forum Statistics Forums16 Topics13,915 Posts229,894 Members9,197 Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011 Newest Members Bill_L, achz, MAGNVSTALSMA, Burlyfish, Renegade98 9,197 Registered Users Who's Online Now 1 members (wofahulicodoc), 506 guests, and 3 robots. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 28 wofahulicodoc 26 LukeJavan8 3 Top Posters wwh 13,858 Faldage 13,803 Jackie 11,613 wofahulicodoc 10,895 tsuwm 10,542 LukeJavan8 9,947 Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210 AnnaStrophic 6,511 Wordwind 6,296 of troy 5,400

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