Whole Nine Yards (1955!)

[Dave Wilton]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Douglas G. Wilson
> Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 5:06 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Whole Nine Yards (1955!)
>
>
> As I've probably noted here previously I had a similar correspondence a
> while ago with a gentleman who recalled "whole nine yards" from the early
> 1950's from the USN aviation school at Pensacola, where (he stated) it was
> used just as it is now, and where it was said at the time to be the length
> of an ammo belt. He didn't mention any dirty songs.
>
> Of course the derivation from a dirty song is not hard to believe. If this
> is the real origin, one might speculate that the length reflects that
> "nine-yard kilt" tradition (genuine or not, I don't know). However a
> pre-existing expression might be recycled in a song too.
>
> Of course I am not convinced of anything without documentation from the
> time in question. But even dirty songs and stories are recorded to some
> degree, aren't they? Where would one look?
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
>


I too am skeptical until I see some documentation. Points in favor of the
explanation are that it is in military aviation and from the Florida
panhandle--both sources of some of the earliest documented uses from a
decade later. Points against are that it is Navy, not Air Force like the
earliest documented uses, and that no innocent uses of the "whole nine
yards" pop up for over a decade. One would expect the phrase to appear in
base newspapers and other published sources without reference to the ribald
story if it were truly widely known in naval aviation circles.

The best bet for looking would be in the personal papers of those who went
through Pensacola in the mid-1950s. Dirty songs would almost certainly not
be officially published anywhere, but there would undoubtedly be typewritten
and mimeographed versions of drinking songs and marching "jodies." Such
unofficial song and marching cadence books would likely be retained as
memorabilia.

--Dave Wilton
  dave at wilton.net
  http://www.wilton.net