The story starts to unravel when you search for the first date that the reference can be found in print. A 1966 novel Doom Pussy by Elaine Shepard about fighter pilots in the Vietnam war. "The first thing in the early morning and the last thing at night. Beds all over the gahdam house. The whole nine yards."
In November 1958 a poem entitled Nine Yards of Other Cloth appeared in The Magazine of Fantsy & Science Fiction. The poem is about the length of cloth used in an Appalachian burial custom.
In World War II different fighter planes and bombers used different calibers and lengths of ammunition belts. Ammunition was typically measured in either rounds or by weight. If it is a reference to a WW II ammunition belt why does it first show in print in 1966? With all the reports, literature, letters and documents, why is the phrase "The Whole Nine Yards" not found in period or contemporary WWII publishing's?
If you are looking for proof of exactly where the phrase comes from, I'm afraid that this one is Origin Unknown!
Paula and I hope you enjoy the MI Printing Blog. Thanks Matt.
