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The whole nine yards
Editor's note: Before you read the posting below, check this page on 'The origin of the whole nine yards'.
Posted by Bob on November 07, 2001
In Reply to: The whole nine yards posted by Dave Gell on November 07, 2001
: I, too, had heard that this saying derived from the amount of material in a truck -- but, I'd heard dump truck rather than cement truck. No matter. The reason I'm writing is that I can tell you the phrase certainly pre-dates the 1970's. I remember it vividly from when I was a kid back in the 1950's and I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't come into usage before that.
Well, that gives you an excellent chance to win the PFWNYGP, the
Phrase Finders Whole Nine Yards Grand Prize, which keeps accumulating
value. It's a nifty certificate, and a Big Cash Prize now worth
$4.87 US.
Since WNY was "in common use" before (1960, WWII, WWI, 1846 in Scotland,
whatever) it SURELY appeared in print somewhere. Find it. A genuine
text reference will do the trick. (No "I heard it from my uncle"
or "I remember it clearly" hearsay evidence ... text only.) Somewhere
there's a newspaper story about the cloth for the Scottish kilt
that got dipped into the cement mixer to try to fish out the RAF
machinegun belt.... Or, perhaps, an account of the sinkhole disaster
in Mongolia showing what fell in the hole: nine yurts.
