The whole nine yards

Posted by R. Berg on August 27, 2003

In Reply to: The whole nine yards posted by Les Sobel on August 27, 2003

: My father served in the US NAvy during World War 2. We had discussed this phrase and according to him it referred to the length of the ammo belts used in the machine guns in Dive bombers and other World war 2 fighter planes. They were nine yards long. When crewmen were questioned about how much ammunition was loaded in a plane the response was "The Whole Nine yards". This was early 1942.

Please see the discussion linked below ( www.phrases.org.uk meanings 411150.html ).

• Whole 9 yards