What's the origin of the saying ”the whole nine yards”?

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SSSnail

SSSnail

Lifer
Nov 29, 2006
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So my mates and I were having a discussion about this at lunch and could not find a conclusive answer. Even Google is stumped at its origin being ”the whole six yards”, without attributing to anything specific.

So, what say you? Sports? Religion? Aliens? What is it?
 
lxskllr

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
58,787
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I've heard kilts. It takes 9 yards of material to make a great kilt.
 
kranky

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Since the Straight Dope site didn't come up with an authoritative answer, I doubt one will be found.
 
PenguinPower

PenguinPower

Platinum Member
Apr 15, 2002
2,538
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No one knows so...

ancient-aliens-th_0.jpg
 
zinfamous

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,509
30,675
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lxskllr said:
I've heard kilts. It takes 9 yards of material to make a great kilt.
Click to expand...

something like this. it was on NPR last week. something something kilts and knitting.

or it was the one about WWII machine gun belts being 9 yards long
 
R

Ronstang

Lifer
Jul 8, 2000
12,493
18
81
I have always heard that it refers to the entire contents of a cement mixer truck so when the driver would ask how much cement/concrete to dump if the person wanted it all they simply said "give me the whole nine yards".
 
phucheneh

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
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The Snopes link dismisses the best explanation without a proper reason. 'Ammunition isn't measured in length'? Okay, well...how much ammunition did the belts typically hold? That many rounds, in a belt that's going to have consistent design (i.e. the amount of 'round per foot' is going to stay constant)...well, how freakin' long is it, Snopes guy?

The military likes consistent and generic design. There was probably an overwhelmingly common length of belt for the common .50 and 20mm calibers.
 
PenguinPower

PenguinPower

Platinum Member
Apr 15, 2002
2,538
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phucheneh said:
The Snopes link dismisses the best explanation without a proper reason. 'Ammunition isn't measured in length'? Okay, well...how much ammunition did the belts typically hold? That many rounds, in a belt that's going to have consistent design (i.e. the amount of 'round per foot' is going to stay constant)...well, how freakin' long is it, Snopes guy?

The military likes consistent and generic design. There was probably an overwhelmingly common length of belt for the common .50 and 20mm calibers.
Click to expand...

Read the f'ing wiki link.

"The Browning machine guns on Britain's Spitfire had 350-round belts of .303 British ammunition which were about 5.7 yards long.[1] U.S. aircraft generally used .50 BMG ammunition, which measured 0.929 inches center-to-center. So a nine-yard belt would have had 301 rounds. The Grumman F6F Hellcat had ammunition belts of up to 400-rounds (10.3 yards) while the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning had belts of up to 500-rounds (nearly 13 yards). Here is a picture of B-29 ammunition belts, and here is picture of a P-38's 900-pound load of .50 caliber ammunition, i.e. 2,700 rounds for four guns."

It's Aliens.
 
olds

olds

Elite Member
Mar 3, 2000
50,090
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It takes 9 yards of material to make a cock sock for an alien.
 
phucheneh

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
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PenguinPower said:
Read the f'ing wiki link.
Click to expand...


You linked to Snopes twice. I read Snopes and found it inconclusive.

You're saying GOD, WHY DID YOU SEE THIS STILL-NOT-ACCURATE IFORMATION IN A WIKI NOTATION?! Simmer down. ;P

'Still not accurate' because no actual research beyond the couple examples has been done. Yes, 27ft of side-by-side .50 rounds would be, well, a little more than the number of inches (324 inches. A .50 case is about .9" at the base). Call it 350. We'll assume the cases touch at the end...seems like I've seen old cloth belts where they don't, but I'm assuming all the planes had metal disintegrating links.

There were planes with .50's that held anywhere from ~200 rounds to 4-500 rounds per gun. This could also refer to bomber turrets, which IIRC on a B-17 or some such could hold 500+.

The important thing to note is the inconsistency. Which leads me to believe that someone either had, or thought they had, nine yards of ammunition, and the phrase was popularized. It's not like the military was issuing belt of ammo in crates with 'BALL AMMO .50 CALIBER 27 FEET' stamped on the side. However, since the ammo was surely shipped in belts that were not the total capacity for a gun, one would wonder how long they were before being chained together and/or truncated to fit a plane's ammo capacity.

Also, I would bet 20mm belts were more likely to always come in the same size...nine yards seems like 150-200 rounds, IIRC the typical capacities for those guns.
 
PenguinPower

PenguinPower

Platinum Member
Apr 15, 2002
2,538
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phucheneh said:
You linked to Snopes twice. I read Snopes and found it inconclusive.

You're saying GOD, WHY DID YOU SEE THIS STILL-NOT-ACCURATE IFORMATION IN A WIKI NOTATION?! Simmer down. ;P

'Still not accurate' because no actual research beyond the couple examples has been done. Yes, 27ft of side-by-side .50 rounds would be, well, a little more than the number of inches (324 inches. A .50 case is about .9" at the base). Call it 350. We'll assume the cases touch at the end...seems like I've seen old cloth belts where they don't, but I'm assuming all the planes had metal disintegrating links.

There were planes with .50's that held anywhere from ~200 rounds to 4-500 rounds per gun. This could also refer to bomber turrets, which IIRC on a B-17 or some such could hold 500+.

The important thing to note is the inconsistency. Which leads me to believe that someone either had, or thought they had, nine yards of ammunition, and the phrase was popularized. It's not like the military was issuing belt of ammo in crates with 'BALL AMMO .50 CALIBER 27 FEET' stamped on the side. However, since the ammo was surely shipped in belts that were not the total capacity for a gun, one would wonder how long they were before being chained together and/or truncated to fit a plane's ammo capacity.

Also, I would bet 20mm belts were more likely to always come in the same size...nine yards seems like 150-200 rounds, IIRC the typical capacities for those guns.
Click to expand...

So, you just want this to be the reason. Cool.

It's Aliens.
 
phucheneh

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
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0
Also, I think the P-51D has 270 round .50 belts, wiki-info be damned. It might not be accurate to call it a 27ft felt, but it doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Damn unscientific research to hell.

edit: No, it's just the most likely explanation that has been proposed. Occam's razor, bitch!
 
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