<P> William Safire, a language columnist at the New York Times, asked listeners for information regarding the origin of the phrase on Larry King's radio show in 1982 . Safire ended up writing nine columns on this subject and is largely responsible for the interest in it . In 1986, the phrase was added to the Oxford English Dictionary with the earliest citation given as 1970 . The Historical Dictionary of American Slang (1997) cited Shepard's novel, thus pushing the earliest known usage back to 1967 . </P> <P> Several key discoveries in further antedating the phrase were made by Bonnie Taylor - Blake, a neuroscience researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an amateur member of the American Dialect Society, an association of professional and amateur linguists whose mailing list often serves as a forum for word and phrase discoveries . In 2012, Taylor - Blake discovered the 1956 and 1957 uses in Kentucky Happy Hunting Ground, and later that year she and Fred R. Shapiro found the "whole six yards" examples from the 1912--1921 period, which received substantial publicity . In 2013, Taylor - Blake posted her discovery of the Mitchell Commercial uses from the 1907--1914 period . </P> <P> There is still no consensus on the origin, though many early published quotations are now available for study . A vast number of explanations for this phrase has been suggested; many of these are no longer viable in light of what is now known about the phrase's history . </P> <Ul> <Li> Perhaps the most commonly offered explanation is that World War II (1939--1945) aircraft machine gun belts were nine yards long . There are many versions of this explanation with variations regarding type of plane, nationality of gunner and geographic area . An alternative weapon is the ammunition belt for the British Vickers machine gun, invented and adopted by the British Army before World War I (1914--1918). The standard belt for this gun held 250 rounds of ammunition and was approximately twenty feet (under seven yards) in length . However, the Vickers gun as fitted to aircraft during the First World War usually had ammunition containers capable of accommodating linked belts of 350 - 400 rounds, the average length of such a belt being about nine yards, and it was thought that this may be the origin of the phrase . This theory is no longer considered viable, since the phrase predates World War I . </Li> <Li> Another common explanation is that "nine yards" is a cubic measure and refers to the volume of a concrete mixer . This theory, too, is inconsistent with the phrase's history . </Li> <Li> Many of the popular candidates relate to the length of pieces of fabric, or various garments, including Indian saris, Scottish kilts, burial shrouds, or bolts of cloth . No single source verifies that any one of those suggestions was the actual origin . However, an article published in Comments on Etymology demonstrates that fabric was routinely sold in standard lengths of nine yards (and other multiples of three yards) during the 1800s and early 1900s . This may explain why so many different types of cloth or garments have been said to have been nine yards long. The phrase "...she has put the whole nine yards into one shirt" appears in 1855 . </Li> <Li> Other proposed sources include the volume of graves; the length of bridal veils, kilts, burial shrouds, bolts of cloth, or saris; a very long list; ritual disembowelment; shipyards; and American football . Little documentary evidence has surfaced to support any of these explanations . </Li> <Li> One proposed origin involves the world of full - rigged sailing ships, in which yard is used not as a measure of length or size, but as the name of each horizontal spar on which a sail is hung . All square - rigged sails unfurled, with 3 yards on each of 3 masts, could then be described as the whole nine yards, but again no actual documentation has been uncovered to support this explanation, and in any case not all ships had exactly three yards on each mast, even disregarding the fact that by no means all sailing vessels were three - masters . </Li> <Li> Bonnie Taylor - Blake, noting that several early examples are in the form "give" or "tell" the whole nine (or six) yards, has suggested that the idiom likely relied on "yards" as "lengthy or thorough presentation (of news, anecdotes, play - by - play, etc .)" </Li> <Li> Jesse Sheidlower, editor - at - large for the Oxford English Dictionary, and Fred R. Shapiro have argued that the phrase does not have a concrete meaning, pointing to the variance between six and nine yards and comparing it to the whole shebang . </Li> </Ul>

Where does the whole 9 yards come from