Lauren Card Live

Most of us have heard the phrase “the whole nine yards.” It means to “give our all”… right? Not exactly!

The origin of this phrase is a BIG mystery. Some think it came from World War II, where the machine gun belt that holds the bullets was twenty seven feet long (nine yards). Giving someone the “whole nine yards” meant that you shot at them until you ran out of ammunition! Others believe that it relates to the length of sail in a three-masted ship. Three masts times three yards per mast equals nine yards total. There are many competing explanations for the “whole nine yards”, but most if not all are urban legend.

We’re all at risk for the misuse of words. We think that we know the meaning of the phrases that we use, but our measure of understanding is often the degree of criticism or censure that we get from others…not the absolute conviction that we are speaking correctly.

Perhaps we have a duty to our magnificent language…that is one of contemplation and constant learning. The English language is robust and has many options for us to say EXACTLY what we mean, if only we are disciplined and have the will to do so.

The next time that you are inclined to use a colloquialism like the “whole nine yards”, I invite you to dig deeper, Google it, or othewise research it to find out what you are really saying!

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