whole nine yards

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royhf
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whole nine yards

Postby royhf » Fri May 19, 2006 1:46 pm

What is the origin and original meaning of "whole nine yards"?
Displaced Texan: "not always right, but never wrong."

Bailey
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Postby Bailey » Fri May 19, 2006 2:40 pm


Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









Perry
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Postby Perry » Tue May 23, 2006 8:30 pm

It seems that there is about nine yards' worth of explanations, but we are no closer to a definitiive answer.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous

Bailey
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Postby Bailey » Tue May 23, 2006 11:35 pm

Displaced Texan: "not always right, but never wrong."
this reminds me of a true story told to me by a lady whose husband was a hunting guide in Montana, who had a party of three Texan men once. But this is probably not the time or place to tell it, :)

mark

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









Perry
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Postby Perry » Wed May 24, 2006 2:03 pm

And yet, I wish that you would.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Wed May 24, 2006 2:41 pm

Displaced Texan: "not always right, but never wrong."
this reminds me of a true story told to me by a lady whose husband was a hunting guide in Montana, who had a party of three Texan men once. But this is probably not the time or place to tell it, :)

mark
Remember: Two Wrongs do not make a Right, but Three Lefts do.
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

EZ2TALK
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WHOLE NINE YARDS

Postby EZ2TALK » Sat May 27, 2006 7:28 am

IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING THAT IS WAS DURING A WORLD WAR AND THE AMUNNITION FOR AN AUTOMATIC WEAPON / THE AMMO CAME IN STRIPS OF BULLITS THAT WERE EACH NINE YARDS LONG. FED INTO THE WEAPON. WHEN A SOLDER EXPENDED AN ENTIRE STRIP OF BULLITS HE HAD FIRED THE WHOLE NINE YARDS....

THATS MY STORY AND I'S STICKING TO IT.

KAREN

Bailey
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Postby Bailey » Sat May 27, 2006 10:27 am

Who is Karen and why is she shouting at us?

mark

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









EZ2TALK
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TO MARK, GIRLR ET AL....

Postby EZ2TALK » Sun May 28, 2006 4:42 am

SORRY THERE IS SUCH OBJECTION TO MY ADAPTIVE USE OF MY CAPITOL WRITING. I HAVE A TBI FOR THOSE UNAWARE THAT IS A TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY IT HAS TAKEN ME OVER TENS YEARS TO BE ABLE TO USE A COMPUTER AGAIN AND I WAS LOOKING FOR AN OUTLET TO GET BACK IN THE SWING OF NORMAL LIFE AGAIN

FOR THOSE OF YOU UPSET AT THE FONT I CAN TELL YOU YOUR RESPONSES HAVE UPSET ME EVEN MORE THAN YOU can IMAGINE NOT BEING IN MY SHOES. I PRAY NOT ONE OF SHOULD EVER HAVE TO KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO HAVE ONCE HAD A HIGH IQ AND A VERY ACTIVE VIBRANT LIFE TO HAVE REGRESSED TO FEELING LIKE AN UNTRAINED CHIMP...AT FIRST I COULDNT EVEN UNDERSTAND THE SPOKEN WORD, THEN I HAS TAKEN MANY MANY YEARS TO BE A BLE TO RE-LEARN HOW TO READ..I GAVE AWAY MANY TALL BOOKCASES OF BOOKS, I STOPPED BUYING /READING 5 TO 12 BOOKS A MONTH...I AM BOUND TO AN ELECTRIC WHEEL CHAIR AND CANNIOT EXPERIENCE THE JOY OF HOLDING MY GRANDCHILDREN FOR FEAR I COULD DROP THEM I WAS TEACHING MYSELF TO PLAY GUITAR BUT GAVE IT AWAY AS I CAN NO LONGER TELL THE DIFFERENCE WHEN A NOTE RAISES OR LOWERS IN PITCH. I NO LONGER PLAY MY KEYBOARD..I READ MUSIC AND WAS QUITE PROFICIENT, NOW CANT EVEN PLAY CHOPSTICKS...I USED TO BE ABLE TO DO CALCULUS IN MY HEAD, NOW CANT EVEN BALANCE MY CHECKBOOK MYSELF. I GET SO EXCITED WHEN I CAN RECALL A PHONE # AFTER I DIALED IT..AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA THE joy THAT COMES TO ME WHEN A WORD..NOT USED IN OVER A DECADE JUST COMES TO MY MIND

TO TOP IT ALL OFF MY HUSBAND DIED LESS THAN 2 MONTHS AGO FORGIVE ME LOOKING FOR SOMEBODY TO CONNECT TO OPPPS FOR SOMEBODY WITH WHICH TO CONNECT...I DONT EVEN HAVE HIM TO PRACTICE MY SPANISH WITH ANY LONGER.

OBVIOUSLY YOU ARE not THE RIGHT GROUP OF FOLKS I THOUGHT WITH WHOM I COULD DIALOGUE

YOU HAVE A GREAT SYSTEM TO WELCOME NEW COMERS
NAD NO I HAVENT PROOF READ THIS TUFF

Bailey
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Postby Bailey » Sun May 28, 2006 11:11 am

Oh Good grief, while I'm not unsympathic to your multiple plight, I can see you have the inteligence to debate and contribute to the group, that said, I have handicaps also, one being failing sight and a TBI also, I also know how to increase my font size and adjust my resolution to better see the desktop, I too have recently suffered loss, just to let you know I can understand these things,but I also have difficulty typing, none of which have I burdoned the rest of the group with. I'm sure there are several others here with at least some kind of handicap, also.

Now as you know pity parties are not well attended, so just join the rest of the human race and follow the rules we all have to follow, secure in the knowledge that we all have our tragedies and we all have small compromises to make, living in this (real) world. If you can't see lower case that well how could you so easily see and be offended by ours?

You will find this is a great place to visit and to keep you company if you need some companionship. stay. go, but don't blame us for the rules. Politeness is a real world fact.

mark

Today is the first day of the rest of your life, Make the most of it...
kb









skinem
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Postby skinem » Sun May 28, 2006 11:50 pm

While I agree with Mark, and we all have our problems, back to the point...
Karen's explanation about the ammunition belt from WWII is the one I've always heard as well.
Any definitive answers out there?

Perry
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Postby Perry » Mon May 29, 2006 8:41 pm

I did a great deal of Googling before my previous post. I won't go back to that just to give the exact answer. However the problem with the ammo belt answer is a disconnect between the time the ammo belts were in use and the time that the expression became poplular. (I just don't recall anymore what predated what. :oops: )
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous

tcward
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Postby tcward » Tue May 30, 2006 12:05 pm

Karen, if you took offense at our request, I apologize. However, just to be completely open, two statements in your post put some doubt in my mind.
AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA THE joy THAT COMES TO ME...
OBVIOUSLY YOU ARE not THE RIGHT GROUP OF FOLKS...
This pattern is typical of someone who has CAPS LOCK enabled, but presses SHIFT to try to make a certain word in all uppercase anyway, resulting in a lowercase word as the two keys cancel each other out.

As for the Whole Nine Yards, to get back to the topic... As Perry has previously stated, we have much speculation, but not much fact to point to any authoritative answer. The World Wide Words article that Mark directed us to at the beginning of the thread is an excellent recap of the different postulations and theories.

-Tim

bnjtokyo

Re: whole nine yards

Postby bnjtokyo » Wed Dec 26, 2012 11:20 pm

Looks like we now have a definitive answer: Nobody knows.
The New York Times ran an article to show the ammo belt theory can't be true.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/27/books ... n.html?hpw

The original phrase, attested to in 1912, was apparently "the whole six yards" and inflation expanded it to "nine."

Philip Hudson
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Re: whole nine yards

Postby Philip Hudson » Thu Dec 27, 2012 1:23 am

This must be the longest running thread in the whole of Alpha Agora. I haven't read it before. My heart goes out to EZ2TALK of a few years ago. Several people have responded with little or no sympathy and others have responded with similar stories. I hope EZ2TALK is still tuning in to Alpha Agora. Please pipe in if you are reading.

Your trauma has been much worse than mine but I have also been there. After a stroke about fifteen years ago I had total aphasia for about a year. My aphasia lessened when I began trying to work cross word puzzles. Finally it pretty much disappeared. But I could no longer type on my computer nor hold a cup of coffee in my hands. Slowly I have gotten better. As of my 75th year of life, I am now almost free of the effects of the stroke. There are still many areas of life that I can no longer participate in, but I am thankful for what I can do and what I have. Through it all I have always had my wonderful family, the amazing family of God and my faith. Have a blessed New Year, y’all.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.


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