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The whole nine yards or full nine yards is a colloquial American phrase meaning "everything, the whole lot" or, when used as an adjective, "all the way," as in, "The Army came out and gave us the whole nine yards on how they use space systems."〔''Whole'', adj., n., and adv., C2, compound ''whole nine yards'', ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (OED Online version Mar. 2013) (citing 1983 ''Aviation Week'' 7 Mar. 46/2).〕 Its origin is unknown and has been described as "the most prominent etymological riddle of our time."〔 The earliest known example of this phrase is from 1907 in southern Indiana. It is related to the expression "the whole six yards," used around the same time in Kentucky and South Carolina. Both phrases are variations on ''the whole ball of wax'', first recorded in the 1880s.〔 They are part of a family of expressions in which an odd-sounding item, such as ''enchilada,'' ''shooting match'', ''shebang'' or ''hog'', is substituted for "ball of wax."〔 The choice of the number nine may be related to the expression "to the nines" (to perfection).〔The phrase "to the nines" is first recorded in 1687. In early usage, it suggested that a work met the standards of the nine Muses of Greek mythology. Nine is considered a perfect number in numerology as it is three squared. Note that the phrase "cloud seven" was inflated to "cloud nine" by the same process. See ''(The Phrase Finder )'' and ''Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang''. Dressing "To the Nines" could also refer to the fact that in French "neuf" means both 9 and New ("Mes souliers sont neuf" = "My shoes are new"). So, "dressing to the nines" would mean dressing in a new outfit ("neuf").〕 The phrase was introduced to a national audience by Elaine Shepard in the Vietnam War novel ''The Doom Pussy'' (1967).〔 Use of the phrase became widespread in the 1980s and 1990s. Much of the interest in the phrase's etymology can be attributed to ''New York Times'' language columnist William Safire, who wrote extensively on this question. ==History of the phrase== The earliest known use of the phrase is from ''The Mitchell Commercial'', a newspaper in the small town of Mitchell, Indiana, in their May 2,1907 edition: This afternoon at 2:30 will be called one of the baseball games that will be worth going a long way to see. The regular nine is going to play the business men as many innings as they can stand, but we can not promise the full nine yards.〔"Baseball," ''Mitchell (Ind.) Commercial'' p. 2,col. 3 (May 2, 1907).〕 The phrase was used three more times in the ''Mitchell Commercial'' over the next seven years, in the forms "give him the whole nine yards" (i.e., tell someone a big story),〔''Mitchell (Ind.) Commercial'', p. 3, col. 5 (June 4, 1908).〕 "take the whole nine yards" (i.e., take everything),〔"Third Term Superstition," ''Mitchell (Ind.) Commercial'' p. 2, col. 2 (Oct. 10, 1912).〕 and "settled the whole nine yards" (i.e., resolved everything).〔"Story of a Green Basket," ''Mitchell (Ind.) Commercial'' p. 1, col. 5 (Nov. 26, 1914).〕 In other uses from this time period, the phrase was given as "the whole six yards." In 1912, a local newspaper in Kentucky asked readers to, "Just wait boys until the fix gets to a fever heat and they will tell the whole six yards."〔 The six-yard form of the phrase also appears in a 1921 headline in a local South Carolina paper.〔 The phrase is not known to have been used in writing thereafter until a 1956 issue of ''Kentucky Happy Hunting Ground'', where it appears in an article on fishing.〔〔 After describing the contests and prizes, the author writes, "So that's the whole nine-yards."〔〔 It appeared in an article on hunting the following year, this time unhyphenated.〔 The phrase at this point was still rare. There is strong circumstantial evidence it was not in general use in 1961, as Ralph Boston set a world record for the long jump that year at 27 feet, or nine yards, but no news report has been found that made any reference to the term, suggesting that journalists were unaware of it or did not regard it as common enough to use as a pun.〔(''The whole nine yards - meaning and origin ), Gary Martin, 2006. ''The Phrase Finder''〕 In a short story published in 1962, the phrase is attributed to "a brush salesman."〔 A letter published in an auto magazine later that year describes a certain new car as containing "all nine yards of goodies".〔 In 1964, several newspapers published a syndicated story which explained that, "Give 'em the whole nine yards" was NASA talk for an item-by-item report.〔 This early usage can be read as suggesting length, but can also be read as suggesting detailed completeness.〔 Two 1965 newspaper articles quote U.S. military personnel serving in Vietnam using the phrase.〔 The phrase was explained as something "teenagers say" in a military-oriented magazine in 1965.〔 Citations from 1966 show the phrase was used by a former U.S. Army airman,〔 and also in a publication for military test pilots.〔 It is also recorded in two contemporary novels concerning the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam, Carl Krueger's ''Wings of a Tiger'' (1966),〔 and Elaine Shepard's ''The Doom Pussy'' (1967).〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「the whole nine yards」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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