# Whole (Full) Nine Yards ?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-full-nine-yards/520100>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [December 5, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-full-nine-yards/520100 "2009-12-05T17:19:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 4

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**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whole-full-nine-yards/520100/4 "2009-12-10T20:10:33Z")

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I was going to try to post links to all the threads we’ve had about this in the past, but it’s a bit daunting. This is, shall we say, one of the Great Questions of the SDMB.

Instead, I’ll just give you the most recent 5 threads. The fifth one has an excellent set of links in the second post to many more discussions here.

> **[The Whole Nine Yards - from Vietnam??](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=532360)**
>
> We started a family discussion on the origin of the phrase “the whole nine yards” last night. My daughter asked about the phrase, though I don’t know what prompted her particular interest. I looked around on the web, and found that one theory is...

> **[did the whole nine yards issue ever get resolved](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=166516)**
>
> the original column was right here. http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_252.html

> **[Whole nine yards (again)](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=460533)**
>
> Looks to me like the real answer is the length of the list of possible, undocumented derivations. Maybe someone just made it out of whole cloth.

> **[The Whole Nine Yards](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=425744)**
>
> The Whole Nine Yards Forgive me if it’s been noted elsewhere on the board, but congratulations, samclem, for antedating the Holy Grail of etymology! Language Log

> **[The whole TEN yards!](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=353458)**
>
> I have come across this website in my effort to learn the origin of the prase “The whole nine yards.” I don’t know if this is a tired, old debate on this message board, but I do know this: I hear this phrase more and more it seems; There doesn’t...

As of now, I believe the earliest reference in print of this phrase is the one discovered by our own **samclem** , which is referenced in the OP of the third link above. It is from 1964, which makes the kilt theory implausible.

Sam’s discovery includes not just the phrase in print, but a definition. It is stated to be space-program slang for a line-by-line report on a project.

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