nine
- Thread starter mathman
- Start date
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
This one has a contentious origin. An oft referenced one is that machine guns in WWII fighters has bullet chains that were 27 feet long long and to open up on an enemy was to "give him the hole nine yards".
Certainly.
Challenge: find an expression for every integer. How many can you get?
Third time's a charm.
Six sheets to the wind.
Seventh Heaven.
Dime-a-dozen.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
Two's company.
I'll give it five.
He's one over the eight
Nineteen to the dozen
Er......someone else have a go.......
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
You can't just make them up!
She went "all elevens".
You just need "a fourteen".
"A seventeen in the bonnet".
See?
sculptor
Valued Senior Member
Number 9 is an amazing number; if the number 9 is multiplied by any number of single-digit, after adding together the two digits of the product always get 9. For example: 9x3 = 27 = 2 + 7 = 9; 9x9 = 81 = 8 + 1 = 9; 9x5 = 45 = 4 + 5 = 9 and so forth.
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Four!
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
There is a world outside Canuckistan, you know.You can't just make them up!
She went "all elevens".
You just need "a fourteen".
"A seventeen in the bonnet".
See?
Look 'em up. They do exist.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
??
Or do you mean, as in:-
Normally that's spelt "Phwoarr!"
(Gabrielle Drake, in UFO, circa 1970).
This isn't the case.
Even ignoring the links AND the cartridge diameter, it's easy to disprove.
50 cal ammunition = 1/2" diameter - that's 24 per foot. 9 yards of ammo would be 648 rounds.
The P47 had 4 guns with 300 rounds per gun (rpg) = nearly twice that value.
P51 had 500 rpg for the inner guns and 270 rpg for the four outer guns = 2080 rounds.
Spits had ~350 rpg for the 8 (smaller calibre) guns = 2800 rounds at 0.303" bullet diameter = 23.5 yards excluding cartridge cases and links.
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
Yup. I said the origin is contentious. I've heard other explanations too (a nine yard bolt of cloth) but, as I said, the jury's out.
Still, I think your dismissal is a bit hasty. We don't really know what guns - never mind what machine they were attached to - may have started the saying. And it may just as easily be my fault for misremembering. For example, someone elseweb has suggested a Gatling gun. I'm not sure how you can be sure unless you've ruled out all likely culprits.
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So we should probably 86 that explanation.
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
Or at least those three specific examples...
The phrase predates WW2, so you can absolutely rule out anything that claims the origin to be from WW2 or after.
Heck, it seems to predate WW1 as well.
Reference to the length of cloth seems quite plausible (putting "the whole nine yards" into one garment, meaning to put everything into it) but, as you say, there's no consensus. There are also variations, most notably "the whole six yards" but unfortunately that may not help identify the actual origin any easier. It may suggest that it is somehow linked to "dressed to the nines", though?
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
OK, that meets my criteria for conclusive.The phrase predates WW2, so you can absolutely rule out anything that claims the origin to be from WW2 or after.
I was thinking of the sounds in golf, not the spelling??
Or do you mean, as in:-
Normally that's spelt "Phwoarr!"
(Gabrielle Drake, in UFO, circa 1970).
Believe you me! I screw up sometimes.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
Oh I see. Apologies. Sex is occasionally a theme in your posts and I jumped to the wrong conclusion!I was thinking of the sounds in golf, not the spelling
Believe you me! I screw up sometimes.
I think golfers shout "Fore!" before they brain you with a golf ball at 150mph.
