"Whole nine yards" : some negative evidence [addendum]

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>"All nine" would be the natural way to refer to a collection of separate
>items.

That's what I think too, but after a little database browsing I'm a little
less positive. I find "the whole five men" to be unnatural, for example,
but it turns out this type of construction occurs -- although not with
great frequency -- here and there in the routine newspapers for example.

>"The whole nine" suggests a solid mass of something. (This is another
>strike against the "MG belt" theory, BTW.)

I disagree with the BTW. I think "the whole nine yards of ammo" is more
natural than "all nine yards of ammo" particularly if the yards can be
subdivided (which they can). I would prefer "all 400 rounds" rather than
"the whole 400 rounds" however. None of these strikes me as grammatically
impossible.

-- Doug Wilson