where does the saying the whole nine yards comre from?

Answer 1

It comes from this joke.....

The Continuing Saga of the Courtship
of
Andrew MacTavish and Mary Margaret MacDuff
A brief summary missing, a Scottish burr and tonal inflections.
[To be read in the locker room after consuming a pint of Scotch or a
six-pack of beer.]

Andy resolved to knit a scarf for his beloved Margaret Mary as a birthday present. As usual in his enthusiasm he kept on knitting and knitting until the scarf extended some nine yards of extremely florid colors and ugly pattern. However, it was a measure of his love for Margaret Mary.

On Saturday night, Andy went out drinking with the boys, wearing his kilt and having Margaret Mary’s gift wrapped around his neck. Naturally his shipmates in the course of the evening made great fun of the ugly accoutrement.

Well after midnight and well into his cups, Andy was having second
thoughts about the present he had lavished so much attention upon. He decided that the only way to resolve his doubts was to show the scarf to Margaret Mary, without indicating that it was her present, and get a sense of her approval and delight.

So, drunk as a skunk, Andy took off over hill and dale, through the heath and heather and stumbling across stone walls and bushy obstacles. In his enthusiasm and rising ardour at the thought of seeing Margaret Mary and that in her night clothes, he didn’t realize that he had not only lost the scarf but also his kilt.

Sexually stimulated, buck-naked from the waist down (answering the question as to what a Scotsman wears under his kilts), and with a massive erection, Andy starts throwing stones at Margaret Mary’s second story bedroom window. After displacing about a yard of gravel, Margaret Mary sleepily opens the window and gazes with amazement at her betrothed in all his glory.

Andy, still well out of it, shouts: “Margaret Mary, I have made this,
wrapped around my neck, just for you? I am going to give it to you on your birthday. How do you like it?”

Margaret Mary, forever the shy maiden, looks with amazement at her beloved and becomes fixated on his lower extremity; being the first time she has ever seen such a thing. She is at a loss for words.

Andy again shouts: “Well girl, how do you like it?”

Nonplused, staring at his impressively engorged member she stuttered out:
“Just fine, Andy dear, just fine. It is magnificent.”

Andy, still seeking more praise for the results of his knitting industry expended on the missing scarf and conscious of the ridicule of his friends asked: “The whole nine yards?”
...
...
...

Answer 2

This phrase, meaning "all of it, everything", dates from at least the 1950s. The origin is a matter for speculation. 9 yards is not a particularly significant distance either in football or in the garment business (a man's three-piece suit requires about 7 square yards of cloth, and cloth is sold in bolts of 20 to 25 yards). The phrase may refer to the capacity of ready-mix concrete trucks, alleged to average about 9 cubic yards. Some people (e.g., James Kilpatrick in _Fine Print: Reflections on the Writing Art_) have satisfied themselves that the concrete-trucks explanation is the correct one; but I haven't seen the evidence. And Matthew Jetmore has unearthed some evidence to the contrary, a passage from the August 1964 issue of _Ready Mixed Concrete_ Magazine: "The trend toward larger truck mixer units is probably one of the strongest and most persistent trends in the industry. Whereas, just a few years ago, the 4 1/2 cubic yard mixer was definitely the standard of the industry, the average nationwide mixer size by 1962 had increased to 6.24 cubic yards, with still no end in sight to the demand for increased payload." The phrase is covered by Cecil Adams in _More of the Straight Dope_, pp. 252-257. A "canonical collection" of explanations has been compiled by "Snopes" ([e-mail]).

Answer 3

My belief is that It's from medievel times. When they would disembowel someone they would stretch out their intestines, which are 27 feet or 9 yards, hence 'He went the whole nine yards.

There are many different beliefs though...check here:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/nineyards.htm

Answer 4

It's a saying from either WW1 or WW2...can't remember which...but it came from an airplane whose ammo amounted to nine yards in length. In other words, if you "give em the whole nine yards", you empty out your ammo shooting at an enemy aircraft

Answer 5

Big dump trucks carry 9 cubic yards of material. If they empty the truck in one pass they have dumped the "whole 9 yards".

Answer 6

Its from WW2.
Gunners in planes would fire the whole box of bullets....'the whole nine yards'. The line was 9 yards in length. Thats the jist of it.

Answer 7

I was always told it was the length of a Kilt worn by the Scots.

Answer 8

No one is 100 % certain where the phrase comes from and how old it is.

Answer 9

It has to do with football.