I realize that this question came early during Cecil’s fight against ignorance. Far be it from me to cast dispersion on the learned one, but I think its possible that his answer could be a little more complete. While he definitely answered the second part of Larry’s question, and technically addressed the first part as well, I think that part of the answer didn’t address the spirit of the question.
I believe the originator of this expression, and most who used it, weren’t aware of the nature and consistency of what left the whale, and were under the impression that:
- It was solid.
- It sinks.
This expression was used by them to imply something deep or low. Larry was trying to get a technical understanding to an expression that was used rhetorically. In other words, the “just how deep” section of the question probably should be answered as “An average of about 3790 meters, and at most about 10911 meters.”
Numeric answers from Wikipedia pages on Ocean, and Oceanic trench respectively.