Etymology Thread - Cocktail spinoff.

[Guest Black Label Society]

I'll start.

 

 

The Whole 9 Yards

 

 

The term “the whole 9 yards” came from WWII fighter pilots in the Pacific.When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got “the whole 9 yards.”

[Isotopes 1]

http://www.yaelf.com/nineyards.shtml

 

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.

 

From the "Straight Dope" site: how the origin of the "whole nine yards" may have come from American football

 

It seems perfectly logical to me that the true meaning of the phrase does indeed spring from [American] football. However, rather than indicating fulfillment of a goal, the phrase probably was originally intended ironically.

 

In an instance of shortfallen achievement where a disdainful comment would be appropriate, it could be said sarcastically that "he went the whole nine yards." ... --Rick A., Chicago

 

(extract from the Cecil Adams "Straight Dope" site)

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

From the "Word Origins" site: a concurring entry

 

One final possibility is that it does derive from American football, but was originally intended to be ironic. To go "the whole nine yards" was to fall just short of the goal.

 

(extract from Dave Wilton's Word Origins site

[Guest Black Label Society]

http://www.yaelf.com/nineyards.shtml

 

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.

 

From the "Straight Dope" site: how the origin of the "whole nine yards" may have come from American football

 

It seems perfectly logical to me that the true meaning of the phrase does indeed spring from [American] football. However, rather than indicating fulfillment of a goal, the phrase probably was originally intended ironically.

 

In an instance of shortfallen achievement where a disdainful comment would be appropriate, it could be said sarcastically that "he went the whole nine yards." ... --Rick A., Chicago

 

(extract from the Cecil Adams "Straight Dope" site)

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

From the "Word Origins" site: a concurring entry

 

One final possibility is that it does derive from American football, but was originally intended to be ironic. To go "the whole nine yards" was to fall just short of the goal.

 

(extract from Dave Wilton's Word Origins site

How about adding one of your own?