Conference thebay::joyoflex

I *think* (and I've only gotten this verbally) that it refers to what
used to be an entire bolt of woolen fabric.  It would be nine yards
long, (and all wool and a yard wide -- if you wondered where THAT
expression came from).
    						-- Ann

	May or may not be relevant......

	A Scots kilt was originally made from 9 yards of material, which
	was bought in a 3 ft. width, and made from pure wool - hence, all
	wool and a yard wide.

	To economise on the material, instead of triple pleats at the back
	of a kilt, it was found that double pleats gave the same appearance,
	but only used 7 yards of material, and could be made from inferior
	cloth.

	My kilt (hand made for me by the Kiltmaker to the Scots Guards) is
	"all wool and a yard wide", and also, "the full nine yards".

	andy. 

Thanks for the help.

John

    John,
    
    I have heard that it is a term used in the construction business.
    One ton of cement will take up 9 cubic yards .....               
    
    w
    

    I once had the singular misfortune of staying overnight in
    a motel that was hosting a convention of concrete salesmen.
    Concrete salesmen's jokes always end the same way, to wit:
    "Yup, the whole nine yards!" The only other experience in
    my life that comes anywhere near this one for grimness was
    the night I spent at a Hippie Commune in South Bend, Indiana,
    off-campus from Notre Dame. Honest to God, a convention of
    concrete salesmen.
    
    -John

Re: .4, .5

I seem to remember that a cubic foot of water weighs about 62 pounds.
There are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard, so the number of tons in 9
cubic yards of water is:

  (9 * 27 * 62 ) / 2000

which comes to more than 7.5 tons.  Since concrete does not float, it's
got to weigh more...

JP

    Perhaps a lorry used to transport concrete usually contains 9 cubic
    yards?
    
    Rien.
    

    Re .5:
    
    	Perhaps that's 10 tons rather than 1.
    
    		If	9 * 27 * X = 20,000 lb.
    		Then		 X = 82.3 lb.		
    		

                                               

    One cubic foot of water weighs 63.5 pounds.
    
    9 yds� = 27 ft�
    
    27 ft� * 63.5 pounds = 1,714.5 pounds
    
    So 9 cubic yards of water doesn't quite weigh a ton.  (Unless my
    math is wrong...it's late...)

>    9 yds� = 27 ft�
>    
>    27 ft� * 63.5 pounds = 1,714.5 pounds
    
     1 yd�  = (3 ft)� = 27 ft�

     9 yds� = (9 * 27 ft�) = 243 ft�

     243 ft� * 63.5 pounds/ft� = 15430.5 pounds

[Maybe it was an ex-physical education teacher :-) ].
Stephen

    Is that really 2000 lb to a US ton?  How does that fit in with the
    units in between? :
    
    	14 lb.	    =  1 stone
         2 stones   =  1 quarter
    	 4 quarters =  1 hundredweight = 112 lb.
        20 cwt.     =  1 ton           = 2240 lb.
                       
    Interestingly, 1 imperial ton is very close to 1 metric tonne (=1000kg)
    
    Jeff.

    Re: .10
    
    I agree with the nearly 8 tons business, but I'm curious about where
    all of the backwards questionmarks on my screen came from.  Meine
    computen machinen nicht Deutch sprechen!  ...or is is "sprechen
    Deutch nicht?"

    Back to the original question -- I went to the local library, and
    tried to find the phrase in several Slang Dictionaries, etc.  
    
    None had anything even remotely similar to "the whole nine yards".
    
    I guess the next step is to contact "The Ultimate Authority:"
    
    	Dear Mr. Safire...
    
    					andrew

    > I guess the next step is to contact "The Ultimate Authority:"
    
    >   	Dear Mr. Safire...
        
    Well, in a recent article, Mr. Safire said that the "whole nine
    yards" referred to the contents of a cement truck.  Several readers
    admonished him for using the inaccurate word "cement" to describe
    the substance concrete.
            
    						andrew

    re: .15
    
    But Mr. Safire works with cement, as an artist!  He applies paint
    over his body and then throws himself at the canvas to produce random
    designs.  Then he tried it by throwing himself into wet cement.
    
    I liked him better in the abstract than in the concrete.

    MLNOIS::HARBIG
                    The most depressing thing about Mr.Safire
                    is that he emerges before the cement hardens.
    
                        Max

Re .5:

Many moons ago, when I was driving a concrete mixer for a living, I was working
for a manager who made most computer management seem almost intelligent.
(Fortunately, I never met any concrete salesmen - the excitement might have been
too much for me!)

I had to take his car (a 2.0 litre Cortina, of all things) into town, and he
gave me the keys and very seriously asked if I could drive it.  So I pointed out
the three-axle, 15-ton beast that I normally drove - he at least had the decency
to look embarassed about it.

Regarding the 9 cubic yards of concrete business: as far as I can remember,
the wagons which I drove then held 6 cubic metres, or about 7� cubic yards, if
my arithmetic (oh all right, my calculator + fingers) hasn't let me down,
weighting around 10 tons (tonnes?). However, I can't imagine that this was
the origin of the expression - which I have never heard before, incidentally; I
suspect that the concrete salesmen were appropriating an existing saying.

Chris (this was all a long time ago, so I'm not too sure of the numbers!).

    "Yard" as a unit of measure (also used for gravel, among other
    things) is a very very old term. 
    
    "Yard" in that senese derives from or is related to the Latin word
    for "spear"; "yard" in the sense of an enclosure (the front yard)
    derives from the OE "gearde" which also, I think, yeilds "garden."
    
    --bonnie

    re .19:  Out of curiosity, are you now driving a vehicle comparable
             to a Cortina?
    
    						Don