I never gave it much thought, but I always assumed it had something to do with North American football, though I can't justify why given "9 yards" is very arbitrary and doesn't uniquely do much to merit such a broadly used expression.
What have you learned today?
- Thread starter hanselthecaretaker
- Start date
From Wikipedia, "
Origin
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 have been suggested;[32][33] however many of these are no longer viable in light of what is now known about the phrase's history.
- 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.[34][35] 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.[36] This may explain why so many different types of cloth or garments have been said to have been nine yards long.[37] The phrase "...she has put the whole nine yards into one shirt" appears in 1855.[38]
- One 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 (6⅔ yards) in length.[15] 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.[39] This theory is no longer considered viable, since the phrase predates World War I.
- Another common explanation is that "nine yards" is a cubic measure and refers to the volume of a concrete mixer.[40] This theory, too, is inconsistent with the phrase's history.[15]
- Other proposed sources include the volume of graves;[41] ritual disembowelment; shipyards; and American football. Little documentary evidence has surfaced to support any of these explanations.[42]
- 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,[43][44] 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.[45]
- 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.]"[46]
- 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.[15]"
How about…*Drum roll*
“PEOPLE”?!
I’m usually reminded of this gem -
Please never die, Morgan.
Thomas Midgley , the inventor who came up with putting lead in fuel, and later putting CFCs in fridges and spray cans, died when he was tangled up and strangled by one of his own inventions, a hoist to get him out of bed and into his wheelchair unaided, after he got polio.
Today I stumbled upon the fragile states index, a number that indicates how likely a state is to fail, with Yemen with highest score and Finland with the lowest, corresponding to the instability of Yemen and the stability of Finland.
What I found out today was how much the US has increased its score during the last few years. The score today is 46.6, and if you look at how much it has increased you realize that the score in 2017 was 7.8, which is lower than Finland today (15.1). And the US is something of an extreme case, since they top the fragility score increase for all years since 2017 save for the latest.
This sounds a bit extreme, so I tried looking up the source but I couldn't find the relevant numbers.
EDIT: I misunderstood Wikipedia. The table does not show how large the change was in a given year, it shows how much the score of that year compares to the latest year in the report, i.e. 2022.
What I found out today was how much the US has increased its score during the last few years. The score today is 46.6, and if you look at how much it has increased you realize that the score in 2017 was 7.8, which is lower than Finland today (15.1). And the US is something of an extreme case, since they top the fragility score increase for all years since 2017 save for the latest.
This sounds a bit extreme, so I tried looking up the source but I couldn't find the relevant numbers.
EDIT: I misunderstood Wikipedia. The table does not show how large the change was in a given year, it shows how much the score of that year compares to the latest year in the report, i.e. 2022.
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If you put bubble bath in a cyclone-type bath it'll go absolutely nuts. It's like an avalanche in here!
Barbed wire tattoos apparently became popular after Pamela Anderson got one after being in a movie called Barb Wire. The film (and the comic strip it was based on) have been mostly forgotten, so those tattoos remaining on people (she got hers removed) are probably it's only legacy.
I have a bias against that movie because the movie company Gramercy Pictures screwed over the Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie to promote Barb Wire instead.
I don't hold it against Pamela Anderson, though, primarily because being Pamela Anderson is enough punishment.
Huh. I don't think you really needed that reason to dislike the film, though, it's pretty bad on its own merits.
You're missing a P there. It's actually 2SLGBTQIAP+. We're at 35% of the alphabet, 10% numerals. Up to 38% alphabet if you want to throw O for Otherkin in there but I've never seen anybody take that seriously and I'm not convinced it's not an internet sham (or just people misdiagnosing themselves).
Mike the Headless Chicken lived for 18 months without a head.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken
And in true irony, his ultimate cause of death was some form of asphyxiation.
Bst comment -
Aedan Gibson 3 months ago
The last guy’s answer really resonated with me. Being considerate and trying to understand people around you, regardless or race or nationality, will always lead to better relationships, and less conflicts of interest.
What’s even more
Today I learned about the Pouter Pigeon.
I know why these exist(they were selectivally breed) but I don't know WHY anyone would breed such a thing.
Every day we stray further from god.
I know why these exist(they were selectivally breed) but I don't know WHY anyone would breed such a thing.
Every day we stray further from god.
Absent
And twice is the only way to live.
- Jan 25, 2023
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Why ? Isn't this how the Holy Spirit appeared to Mary ?Today I learned about the Pouter Pigeon.
I know why these exist(they were selectivally breed) but I don't know WHY anyone would breed such a thing.
Every day we stray further from god.
How Pepsi briefly became the 6th largest military in the world
In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union wanted to have Pepsi on hand permanently. But paying was an issue, so Moscow came up with a creative solution.
www.businessinsider.com
Pepsi briefly had it's own Navy in the 1980's courtesy of the Soviets going fucking broke and deciding why not just trade some of their Naval assets in trade. The agreement included 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer. For those playing along at home, even a minimal staffing of those ships would have required over 1000 sailors....which Pepsi probably did not have.
It begs the question: How does the IRS asses Taxes on a corporation owning a small Navy?
Did the British Crown ever tax the Dutch East India Company for their ships? If they did, it would probably be the same way.
How Pepsi briefly became the 6th largest military in the world
In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union wanted to have Pepsi on hand permanently. But paying was an issue, so Moscow came up with a creative solution.
Pepsi briefly had it's own Navy in the 1980's courtesy of the Soviets going fucking broke and deciding why not just trade some of their Naval assets in trade. The agreement included 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer. For those playing along at home, even a minimal staffing of those ships would have required over 1000 sailors....which Pepsi probably did not have.
It begs the question: How does the IRS asses Taxes on a corporation owning a small Navy?