where does the expression, "the whole nine yards come from"?

Answer 1

Aircraft! The .50 cal guns in the old WWII fighter planes used chains of ammo, that were 9 yards long. So if you gave them all you had, you gave them the "whole nine yards".

Answer 2

The origins of the expression are unknown, but various theories are popularly held as to the root of it. Suggested sources have included sources as diverse as the size of cement mixers, the length of bridal veils, the manufacture of kilts, American football slang, the length of cloth bolts, and the structure of certain sailing vessels (where "yard" is short for yardarm, not for the distance). Little to no documentary evidence has ever surfaced supporting any of these.

One of the more common theories is that the expression dates from the Second World War, where the "nine yards" was the full length of a machine-gun ammunition belt, and to "go the full nine yards" was to use it up in its entirety. The expression, however, has only been dated back to early 1967, in U.S. Air Force slang recorded in Vietnam.[1] By November 1967 it was recorded in use in the U.S. Army, likewise from Vietnam, and by mid-1969 was appearing in newspaper advertisements in the United States.[2] The first citation in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1970, in the magazine Word Watching.[3]

Whilst written occurrences have not been found predating 1967, a number of anecdotal recollections suggest the use of the phrase dates back at least a further decade, and potentially into the 1940s. One of the better-documented cases is provided by Captain Richard Stratton, who recorded in 2005 that he encountered the phrase during naval flight training in Florida in July of 1955 as part of a ribald story about a mythical Scotsman.[4] It has been suggested that there is strong circumstantial evidence it was not in general use in 1961 - Ralph Boston set a world-record for the long jump that year at 27 feet, or nine yards, but no newspaper story has been found which made any reference to the term, suggesting journalists were unaware of it or did not see it as common enough to use as a pun.[5]

Also, the wedding sari in a hindu wedding is nine yards of silk that is wrapped around the body.

Answer 3

happyhead's answer is a good one but in fact this has recently been solved. The phrase originates in a dirty joke having to do with friends tying a long ribbon to their very drunk friend's penis and sending him off to his girlfriend. When he comes back and they press him to relate his experience with the "present" to his girlfriend hilarity results from the two sides misunderstanding what is being measured when he insists she liked "the whole nine yards". This works perfectly well since a) it is a variation on a familiar genre of such jokes, b) that it is not in a published, printed source in the original is explained by its vulgar nature and c) the first published reference we do have uses the phrase in a sexual context.

Answer 4

It comes from old England when the streetwalkers would ask how much cloth a customer was going to give them, and if the customer said "The whole nine yards" it meant that he would give them the entire bolt of cloth, back then there were 9 yards on a bolt, and the streetwalking prostitute was expected to give full service inreturn.

Answer 5

When Martha Washington was making the first American flag she asked George how much material should she used when all she had was nine yards, so of course, he said, "The Whole Nine Yards".

Answer 6

Nine yards is the original measurement of the Holy Grail, the cloth Christ was wrapped in at burial. Search the web, you'll see that I'm correct.

Answer 7

during wwII when the air force loaded their gun belts, for their machine guns it was 27 feet long, and that is 9 yards. hence the term "the whole 9 yards"

Answer 8

This expression comes from football.

Answer 9

its not a football thing they go in ten yard increments

Answer 10

football