The whole nine yards

Factual Questions
1

Where does the phrase “the whole nine yards” come from?

2

Do a search on this site, this comes up a lot. Short answer, no one knows.

3

The 27 feet of ammo strung in a WWII fighter plane. When they emptied their guns, they gave 'em the whole nine yards.

So I’ve heard.

4

First and foremost, welcome to the SDMB, mr. splitfoot.

The General Questions FAQ requests that all users search the archives before opening a new thread:

To search the SDMB archives, go here or click on the “Search” link at the top of any SDMB page. Remember to reset the “search by date” indicator to “any date” before you check the board archives.

To search Cecil’s archived columns, go here.

5

Sorry, but this one, while quite popular, has been thoroughly debunked. “The whole nine yards” is a phrase from the 1960’s, and there is no mention of it during WWII.

But Telemark has it – no one knows.

You can read other suggested and rejected theories in Cecil’s column or at the Word Detective.

And on preview I see that KtN has given you some very good advice about searching out answers at the SD.