"the whole nine yards" 1942

[Stephen Goranson]

Two notes.

First, the New York Times apparently considered the Senate committee meeting
newsworthy: they reported on it:
"While shipbuilding is progressing at the rate of one ship per day and a rate of
two ships per day is expected within a few weeks, Rear Admiral Emory S. Land,
chairman of the Maritime Comission and War Shipping Administrator, told a
Senate committee that the program was suffering from delays in delivery of
steel plate that began last July and have built up to an unfilled 'backlog' of
169,000 tons. He estimated that an increase of 13 per cent was necessary to
meet the President's goals this year." (26 April 1942)


Second, in abbreviated form, showing the prevalence of "item, item, item--the
whole nine yards" usage over 9-yard length usage, we have:

1942 9 shipyards (and their productivity levels)
1964 "an item by item report"
1966 every title on a record albumn
1966 "Then [in addition to the above-mentioned items, e.g., self-sealing tanks],
two-engines, two pilots and the rest, the nine yards of things"--i.e., not a
9-yards-long listing
1967 "a trim, shampoo, and shave, massaged him from waist to ears, then trapped
his stubborn curls under a hairnet"
1967 knot of marriage untangled
1967 sex morning till night; beds everywhere
1968 [meaning "all the way"--not an example of usage]
1969 on Ann-Margaret: "She's got everything going for her.  She dances,
sings, acts---the whole nine yards."
1969 entire nine yards [text only partly scanned]
1970 Artificial, second-hand use: "The whole nine yards would be numbah ten if
he augered and bought the farm." Everything would be lost to death.
1971 yard as $100; whole 9 = $1000 "or so say the game table boys" {their guess]
1972 "The Combat Infantryman's badge, a senior parachutist's badge, the
Vietnamese parachutist's wings, the whole nine yards of his Freddy Fascist
suit"
1973 "the long hair, short, skirts, loud music, fancy cars the whole nine yards"
1974 "the 'whole nine yards' of requirements"
1974 1974 "Our 'Mamasan' does the laundry, shines the shoes and makes the beds
of Marines of two hutches....She does the whole nine yards"
1974 "your parlor games, hand-holding--the whole nine yards."
1974 "scrubbing the 'whole nine yards' of requirements to the minimum that will
still enable the system to fill the operational need." Department of Defense,
House Appropriations for 1974
1975 "we give them the whole nine yards on a sensitive source"
1976 "People, Tanks, Trucks, the whole nine yards"

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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