# the whole nine yards

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards/527852>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [February 5, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards/527852 "2010-02-05T21:40:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 84

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**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-whole-nine-yards/527852/84 "2015-08-08T09:02:45Z")

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It’s pushing back closer to 1855 [The Judges shirt](http://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/newspapers_articles.aspx?t=28&i=1804)

–which looks like column filler that was widely reprinted. When the first “9 yards” sighting was 1955, that was clearly unrelated. Now I’m going to wonder if it was a riff on a common expression even then.

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