Whole Nine Yards Citation

[Richard Gage]

On Tuesday, 5 Mar 2002 at 05:12:56, Dave Wilton wrote:
> Has anyone antedated the 1970 citation in the OED? I've seen various
claims
> that it dates to "the mid-60s," which is a reasonable assumption, but
I've
> never actually seen a citation earlier than the one in the OED.

I can't provide you with a citation, but I believe the expression is
much
older than that.  I remember reading some place that "the whole nine
yards"
originated in the coal delivery business -- it meant a whole dump-truck
load.
When a driver began dumping his load, he would back the truck away from
the
pile's starting point.  If he emptied the entire load, the length of the
pile
was about 9 yards long.  But if the customer ordered less than a
truck-load,
he received less than "the whole nine yards."