Brian Norrell
Manager, MPI Development
QuadraMed
511 E John Carpenter Frwy,
Su 500
Irving, TX 75062
(972) 831-6600
From: Jacques Kilchoer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2001 4:55 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
Subject: RE: completely off-topic question...
> -----Original Message-----
>
href="mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]">mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>
> AFAIK, the phrase "the whole 9 yards"
precedes WWII and comes
> from WWI.
> Allegedly, it was
> the size of the ammo
belt for the maxim machine gun. The
> whole 9 yards
meant
> "to fire it all".
With all due respect, Mr. Gogala, that seems a little doubtful to me.
a) This sounds very much like the "World War II aircraft ammunition belt" explanation, which explanation has been disputed.
I found this site on the Maxim Machine Gun:
http://users.erols.com/hyattg/usmcguns/max_08st.htm
Which has the following information:
-
Caliber 7.92mm (.311 inch), same as the German infantry rifle.
- Rounds per belt = 250.
I don't know anything
about guns, but don't the above numbers mean that the ammunition belt would be
at least .311 * 250 inches long? (i.e. 77.75 feet or 26 yards)
b) If the expression dates from World War I, why would the first mention in print date from 1966? Or do you know of an earlier reference in print?
