# The Whole Nine Yards Explanation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 15, 1999, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473 "1999-09-15T19:42:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 1999, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/21 "1999-09-26T02:40:00Z")
After reading Phillip Johnson’s numerous writings on evolution, I am able to see the blind, dogmatic reliance on Naturalism which underlies this whole discussion. Your inability to explain the origin of the term based on purely materialistic means proves beyond a doubt that the current scientific orthodoxy is fundamentally flawed and unable to resolve basic questions in any meaningful way. Why are you so hostile to the possibility that this saying is not a product of humans acting in isolation, but the result of a Higher Intelligence intervening in our world and creating the foundations of the reality which we experience? Clearly, you are not interested in truth unless that truth fits into the narrow boxes which you have constructed from your ignorance and arrogantly declared to be all there is to know. I now return you to your discussion as I dislodge my tongue from its deeply embedded position in my cheek. ---
**Author:** ![Phaedrus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@Phaedrus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phaedrus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 1999, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/22 "1999-09-26T15:09:00Z")
Is there no true way to get to the end of this? I think warrinner sums it up for me. Frank, your “speil” had me on the floor! May I copy it for friends? Ryan, like the straw men, ad hominems, and appeals to experts others of your ilk offer up when backed into a corner philosophically, your non sequitur reveals mere opinion without fact. Ridiculous ridicule, their stock in trade. Lest I be accused of sesquipedalianism, I beg you to keep your comments germane. If you do however have something substantial for us to “chew on”, start a post on the topic. Else how shall we improve? _wink_ Your humble servant, Phaedrus ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 1999, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/23 "1999-09-27T15:09:00Z")
Copy away! Just give me credit, please. ---
**Author:** ![TheIncredibleHolg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@TheIncredibleHolg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheIncredibleHolg)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 1999, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/24 "1999-09-28T06:02:00Z")
Eutychus55 wrote: > [@](#): > > If I remember correctly the actual answer is a distortion of another phrase. It seems that there was a certain vineyard that grew grapes that amde an especially good wine. It got so popular that they could ony afford to sell it once a year at Christmastime. Hence the area became known as the Noel Wine Yards. Yeah, I heard that, too – through the grapevine. This topic gives me the whole nine yawns. ---
**Author:** ![Jomolungma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b2d939/32.png) [@Jomolungma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jomolungma)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 1999, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/25 "1999-09-28T06:47:00Z")
test ---
**Author:** ![metroshane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@metroshane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metroshane)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 1999, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/26 "1999-10-11T22:54:00Z")
why isn’t it called ‘the whole nine meters’? -maybe this will put a tangent on the thinking. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 1999, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/27 "1999-10-12T13:25:00Z")
Because “Holnein Meters” are used to measure quantum uncertainty flux. ---
**Author:** ![Jomolungma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b2d939/32.png) [@Jomolungma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jomolungma)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/28 "1999-10-14T13:10:00Z")
I once dated a Holnein meter maid. She made my particle accelerator hum like no other. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Prozacula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Dr\_Prozacula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Prozacula)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 1999, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/29 "1999-11-01T07:06:00Z")
I believe I amy reveal to you the wonderful etemology of the phrase “Holnein Meter”. I think it may have been about 20 years ago while I was at a conference at MIT. I was telling a joke to Stephen Hawkins about the black hole and the antimatter particle - you know the one - when I was interrupted by Stephen, who had just seen this really hot grad student walk in the room. Being a genius, Stephen was obviously more interested in her nebulus region than in what I was saying, since he muttered as best he could “Holnein Meter”. I said “what?”. He replied “Holnein Meter!” and rolled his chair away in quite a hurry. Turns out he was saying “Hold on, man, I want to meet her!” I have many more explanations for the beginning of phrases and words, if you like! ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/30 "2000-01-20T19:19:00Z")
I have an explanation, but it’s not for “whole nine yards/meters/pottles\*/whatever”. But rather for “sophomore”. This word comes from the days when college students would have to take a train from the West to the East Coast to go to school. Because they were just poor students, they usually had to take the least desirable seats on the train. Because the heat from the sun made them uncomfortable, these seats were on the south side of the train which were on the right side going to college and the left side coming home. So their tickets were stamped SOPH for Starboard Out, Port Home and students were sometimes called “sophs”. After a while, it was noted that second year students tended to be the poorest college students. So they had to travel SOPH MORE than the others, thus they became known as sophomores. - A pottle, btw, is half a gallon. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/31 "2000-01-20T19:45:00Z")
Is a wise fool the same thing as a smart ass? * * * Elmer J. Fudd, Millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2000, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/32 "2000-01-20T20:45:00Z")
Wise fool = smart ass = dumb bunny! ---
**Author:** ![Rocket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@Rocket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocket)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2000, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/33 "2000-01-22T06:20:00Z")
In 1973, none other that the US government actually changed the phrase to “the whole nine meters (9.8425 yards)” but it didn’t catch on. Some years later the programmers for the Mars lander figured out why. ---
**Author:** ![pqlier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@pqlier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pqlier)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2000, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/34 "2000-01-22T12:43:00Z")
Frankd6: the requested insight ? 1 differs any \> 1 Q.E.D. Unpack at your leisure. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2000, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/35 "2000-01-23T00:50:00Z")
It’s a code phrase used by the Illuminated order of Masons and…AAAAARRRRRRGGGG!!! (This poster has been silenced . There is nothing to see here. Return to your homes , and forget…forget…FORGET… Fnord) 😃 * * * With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince. With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D, and you still have the frog you started with. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2000, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/36 "2000-01-25T14:54:00Z")
I requested an insight? Funny, I don’t recall ordering one. Now that you mention it, I could use an epiphany or two (or nine). * * * Plunging like stones from a slingshot on Mars. ---
**Author:** ![woodja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woodja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodja)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2000, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/37 "2000-01-26T06:48:00Z")
The phrase derives from old English (or “ye olde Engish”). A “Yeard” was what we call a month now, a “small year”. A woman who went to full term in a pregnancy went the “whole nine Yeards”. If she had a preemie of course she did not and was said to have “dropped the bairn” (bairn being the old word for child), which of course mutated into our current “dropped the ball” for someone who messes up. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2000, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/38 "2000-01-25T19:18:00Z")
Wasn’t there a method used by medeval midwives to prevent premature birth? I believe they encouraged the mother to do muscle exercises that caused the fetus to move upward, back into the womb. This, of course, was known as a “bairn raising”. ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2000, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473/39 "2000-01-26T13:38:00Z")
And, of course, if they wanted to induce labor, midwifes would make the mother jump around the room in a “bairn dance.” * * * …but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards-explanation/473.md?page=1)