where did the saying "The whole 9 yards" come from?

Answer 1

the human head

Answer 2

During World War II the British fighter plane, the Spitfire was armed with eight Browning 303 machine guns, four in each wing. Each gun had an ammunition belt that was nine yards long and to fire a burst continually until the ammunition was gone would be to use 'the whole nine yards'. This was very unusual since standard instructions were to fire short bursts so as to conserve ammunition and give a greater 'fighting time' for the plane. Once ammunition was expended the only thing for the plane to do was return to base to be rearmed. The whole belt would contain around 350 rounds, around 2,800 for all eight guns. Generally a few bullets in the wings or fuselage would be enough to down an enemy so a burst of seven or so would pump 56 bullets into the enemy plane. This would account for sufficient to shoot at 50 enemies. To fire the whole nine yards would, normally , be considered wasteful or desperate. An exception would be when firing at, say, a line of ground troops where only one sweep may be possible.

Answer 3

A few people have hit on it, but got a few of the details wrong. It really did origionate during WWII, but it was a saying in the US Army Air Corps, not the RAF. The ammunition belts for the six .50 caliber machine guns mounted on the P-51 Mustang were each 27 feet long (nine yards). Often, pilots would get overly excited, scared, or both, and would literally shoot enemy aircraft to pieces to ensure the kill. When other pilots asked them how many rounds they fired into their targets, they would reply "I gave him the whole nine yards!"

Answer 4

This was back in the 60's. A man was putting a sidewalk in and needed 8 yards of concret. Well the truck came out and had 9 yards on it. But the guy was so set on 8 that he diden wont the extra yard. Well the driver of the truck said look man why dont you just take "'The whole 9 yards"" And that is how is all started!!! And guess what ? You heard it here first from a REAL Nutcase!!!"""NUT'S"""..PS ..did i wn...did i win...did i win???

Answer 5

It goes back to the construction industry who bought concrete by the cubic yard. A concrete truck held 9 yards and, if you bought the entire truck load, you got the whole 9 yards.

There IS another theory. At one time U.S. prisons had a 9-yard "no man's zone" around each and a nine yard high fence. If a prisoner escaped, he made it through the whole nine yards!

Answer 6

Maxim machine guns circa 1890 had 250 round belts that were 27 feet; or 9 yards long.

Answer 7

I'll go over some of the more common suggestions, but first let's consider some important background material. The phrase is first found, to my knowledge, in 1966. (An unreliable book has claimed that it dates from the 1950s, which is itself not that implausible.) The early examples do not seem to be associated with a particular field; for example, it is found in military sources, but it doesn't seem to be a specifically military expression. The phrase is an Americanism.

A reasonable etymological theory must meet several criteria. It must be internally true--you cannot claim that the whole nine yards comes from the fact that a man's three-piece suit require nine square yards of cloth if such a suit only requires five square yards. It must jibe with the evidence we have--an origin in some colonial practice is not likely to be the origin of a term first found in the 1960s. It must be sociolinguistically plausible--an origin in the jargon of cement-truck operators is unlikely because there's no reasonable way that cement- truck-operator jargon would make it to general use. There are other criteria, but these are rough guidelines of what we can demand from an explanation. With that in mind, let's look at what some people have said.

Despite the use of yards as the standard measurement of distance in football, nine yards is not a significant distance in the game. No one has ever discovered a quote from, say, a movie about football or from a famous football player about "going the whole nine yards" in reference to a particularly important play.

It is asserted that a standard capacity of cement-mixers is nine cubic yards, and that a full load would be "the whole nine yards." There is no standard capacity for cement mixers--current models vary between seven and ten cubic yards--but in the 1960s, when the phrase was first used, they carried about four cubic yards of cement, and six cubic yards was considered extremely large. Also, it's unlikely that a phrase from cement-mixing jargon would make it into the mainstream.

It is asserted that various articles of clothing, such as a man's custom-made three-piece suit, a formal bridal veil or train, or a gown in colonial times, customarily require nine square yards of material, or that material normally comes in bolts of nine square yards. In fact, a man's custom-made suit requires only about four to five square yards of cloth; even the late Princess of Wales' staggeringly long veil was only twenty-five feet (8 1/3 yards) long, and colonial gowns are too old to bother considering. Bolts of cloth are normally twenty or more yards long. Finally, the garment industry is again not a likely source of slang.

It is asserted that the "yard" is not a reference to length, but is rather one of the long spars to which a sail is affixed on a ship; ships had a maximum of nine of these yards, and a ship trying to go as fast as possible with all its sails would be using "the whole nine yards." First of all, ships often had more than nine yards; it depended on the number of masts, but fifteen or eighteen yards were not unusual. Second, seafaring terminology is an unlikely origin for a term only thirty-odd years old. Third, the phrase "all nine yards" would be more likely in this context than "the whole nine yards."

It is asserted that nine yards is a customary length of a burial shroud, and "the whole nine yards" would refer to death, and by extention any extreme, final limit. This suggestion has at least some basis--nine yards is a customary length of burial shrouds in some areas. However, the semantic link doesn't seem likely--it's more of a stretch from "death" to "everything possible" than one would like. The word "whole" again doesn't make much sense in this context. Also, the actual phrase "the whole nine yards" has never been found in conjunction with burial practices.

A more recent assertion is that twenty-seven feet was the standard length of a machine-gun belt, and that firing off the entire round was shooting "the whole nine yards." This is sensible in a number of ways- -the military is often a source for expressions of this type; it makes perfect semantic sense; the phrasing is reasonable. Most machine-gun belts were less than twenty-seven feet, unfortunately, and of course this phrase is not found specifically associated with this theory until very recently.

Answer 8

I believe that the whole nine yards is a reference to the length of an ammunition belt on warplanes. If you gave it the whole nine yards you gave it everything you had.

Answer 9

Football downs?

Answer 10

I think it's a football thing.