Where did the expression "the whole 9 yards" originate and what does it mean?
549926
Bolts of fabric were sold in 9 yard units.  Normally someone would come into a store amd just buy as much as they needed.  They'd browse the shelves, then have the storekeeper measure it out on brass tacks on the counter ("coming down to brass tcks").  Other times, when someone was feeling extravagant or had a really big project, they would spring for the whole nine yards.
32323
It is Welsh and I think it means 'stupid','emptyheaded', 'not all there",etc.\n\nI am a saesneg,but from my sojourns I think the literal translation is 'not a full yard'.\n\nOur ocker mates would say 'a sixpack short of a barbie'!
81047
My dad always referenced it as "come see, come saw". Kind of an early version of "been there, done that".
649362
Belt-fed machine gun artillery used to come in 27-foot (9-yard) lengths.  When a soldier really let loose on his enemy, he gave him "the whole nine yards".
113646
It's frequently used to signify completeness. At times it has reference to bringing a work toward completion.Or it can refer to the complete cycle of things as established or allowed by God.The 7 congregations mentioned in Revelation 1:20-3:22 give a complete picture of all the congregations of God on earth. The 7 heads of the wild beast of Rev.13:1 show the limit to which the beast would be allowed to develop. And a repetition of seven was equivalent to saying indefinitely or without limit at Matt. 18:21,22.
20688
To answer this, one must return to days before these were in common usage, when distances were measured in travel days, journeys, and the like.  It wasn't until much later in history that humans began to want and require more specific and detailed measurements than "over there," and "a far piece" could describe.  When those days did indeed dawn, we used such terms as yards, furlongs, miles, etc., and had specific measures for them, and as such would require a kind of reference for them as well.  \n\nEven today, we do not travel much in inches, we travel in mileage; the numbers would be too large and cumbersome for any useful meaning.  However, with the development of nanotechnology, particularly as it may impact medical procedures, there may come into common usage such terms as "inchage" and "millimeterage."
809846
Blast from the past- it means up to mischief or " no good"  I do not know where it came from but it has been around since at least the 30-40's  \n\nI just googled shenanigans and it is from the 1920's and there actually was a play named that.  Try Wikipedia- but I am right about the meaning.
1018194
This phrase, meaning "all of it, everything", dates from at least\nthe 1950s.  The origin is a matter for speculation.  9 yards is not\na particularly significant distance either in football or in the\ngarment business (a man's three-piece suit requires about 7 square\nyards of cloth, and cloth is sold in bolts of 20 to 25 yards).  The\nphrase may refer to the capacity of ready-mix concrete trucks,\nalleged to average about 9 cubic yards.  Some people (e.g., James\nKilpatrick in Fine Print:  Reflections on the Writing Art) have\nsatisfied themselves that the concrete-trucks explanation is the\ncorrect one; but I haven't seen the evidence.  And Matthew Jetmore\nhas unearthed some evidence to the contrary, a passage from the\nAugust 1964 issue of Ready Mixed Concrete Magazine:  "The trend\ntoward larger truck mixer units is probably one of the strongest and\nmost persistent trends in the industry.  Whereas, just a few years\nago, the 4 1/2 cubic yard mixer was definitely the standard of the\nindustry, the average nationwide mixer size by 1962 had increased to\n6.24 cubic yards, with still no end in sight to the demand for\nincreased payload."  The phrase is covered by Cecil Adams in More\nof the Straight Dope, pp. 252-257.  A "canonical collection" of\nexplanations has been compiled by "Snopes" (snopes@netcom.com).\n\n   Michael Nunamaker writes that a friend of his in the U.S. Air\nForce suggested a World War II origin:  "According to him, the\nlength of the ammunition belt (feeding the machine guns) in the\nSupermarine Spitfire was nine yards.  Therefore, when a pilot had\nshot all his ammunition he would say he had 'shot the whole nine\nyards'."
783296
A unit of distance called a mile was first used by the Romans and originally denoted a distance of 1,000 (double) steps (mille passuum in Latin), which amounted, at approximately 29 inches (0.74 m) per (single) step, to 1,618 yards (1,480 m), or 5,000 Roman feet, per mile.\n\nA statute of the English parliament during the reign of Elizabeth I established the statute mile as eight furlongs or 1,760 yards; that is, 5,280 feet or 63,360 inches\n\nThe U.S. survey mile is based on an inch defined by 1 metre = 39.37 inches exactly. It is equal to 5,280 U.S. survey feet, 6,336/3,937 km or approximately 1,609.347 metres\n\nGood luck
1120165
Now you know where the expression "on the rag"\ncomes from.
468618
Right Outside Line Vacker?\n\nIn what context did you see this acronym?  Can you tell whether it is a statistical term, or is it supposed to represent a position on the field?
972254
There were several phrases he said when someone pulled his string.  The only one I can think of is, "Say your prayers."  Perhaps you're thinking of Buzz Lightyear's catchphrase, "To infinity, and beyond!"  Love that movie.
418624
It is impossible to know without the context. What's the whole sentence you find the phrase in?\n\nEdit: That really makes no sense. It's certainly not a frequently used abbreviation. Some more information would really be helpful.
684790
I have never heard this phrase in my seven years. What is the context?
333885
The term is actually a reference to the size of a grave... 8 feet long, and 6 feet deep... hence it refers to something being "dead."\n\nIn the restaurant biz, and many other contexts, when someone says "86" something, it means that they've run out, or they want to stop it, etc.
281796
There are 1760 yards to a mile and three feet to a yard, making 5280 feet, Why? God only knows, but that's Imperial measurement for you.  If you want some more Imperial facts, read on:\nTwenty shillings made a pound,\nTwelve pence made a shilling.\nTwenty-four pence made a florin.\nTwo shillings made a florin.\nTwo sixpences made a shilling.\nTwo shillings and sixpence made half-a-crown.\nThirty pence made half-a-crown.\nFive shillings made a crown.\nFour Crowns made a pound.\nTwo threepences made a sixpence.\nForty sixpences made a pound.\nTwo halfpennies made a penny.\nTwo farthings made a halfpenny.\nTwo hundred and forty pennies made a pound.\nFour hundred and eighty halfpennies made a pound.                                                      Nine hundred and sixty farthings made a pound.\n                                           \nTwenty-hundredweight made a ton.\nEight stone made a hundredweight.\nFourteen pounds made a stone.\nSixteen ounces made a pound,\n(Unless they were Troy ounces, then there were only twelve).\n\n\nQuestion:   How many farthings were there in an ounce? \n\nThis was how prices were calculated in GB until 1972 when the Pound became Metric.   Shortly afterwards, building materials also went metric.   Still to this day, I cannot give any idea how tall a person is in Metric if he is 5feet 10 inches.          So you are worried about 5280 feet.\n\nIs it any wonder that I was forever getting a hiding from the teacher?\n\n--------------------
28160
Firing at a target that is immediately in front of the weapon.  Ranges are usually measured in yards, for example 3.5yd = "three point five yards".  When you fire so close that it is immeasurable, it is 0.0yd.  People dropped the first "zero", and slang made the second zero read as "blank", so 0.0yd became "point blank" range.