Does anyone know the origin of the phrase; "The whole nine yards"? My roommates and I all had different stories and when I searched the web I found even more stories.... all different. A few of the most believable to me are:

1. It takes 9 square yards to make a complete well made man's suit. If you wanted your suit done right without having to make alterations you would ask the tailor to use the whole nine yards.

2. Since the phrase didn't seem to pop up until the 40's and later, this one seems plausible to me. The length of a machine gun belt for a fighter plane was 9 yards. To use the whole nine yards was to use all your ammo.

3. The most popularly accepted answer, (one that just doesn't feel right to me though) is that a cement truck holds nine cubic yards of cement. Thus the whole nine yards was to use the entire truckload of cement for a job.

4. Another popular one that I don't buy is that it is an american football expression designed to be sarcastic since it actually takes 10 yards to accomplish a first down.

There are tons of others, but hearing a quote from a legitimate source would end the brain loop I'm going through on this one. I suppose I could just make up my own to add to the list.

** The whole nine yards come from (according to Ben's imagination) - the standard length of a shotgun shack. To get the whole nine yards would to have meant to kill everything in the entire house with one shot.