Furiners!
hmm not sure how to edit my original post. Here is the link
Still doesn’t show anything, for some of us anyway.
But this link seems to work (for me at least):
We need to get a book published with all that’s known so far about the etymology of “the whole nine yards”, including disproofs of the incorrect etymologies. The work done so far would certainly fill a book. Then when people ask about this, we can just refer them to the book.
We could call it “The Whole Nine Yarns”.