Why 142 yards?
Discussion
planetdave said: ( no suggestion of the navy thang [ yardarms are ALWAYS yardarms cos yards is rope ])
I query this for 1 very poor reason - a chap on the antiques roadshow (yeah,yeah I know) brought in a v large model of a mast which was used to teach sailors rigging. He kept talking about the yardarms but only called one of them (the cross members) yardarms - and all the rest yards. IIRC he was an ex naval officer of some years (in the navy and in in age)
thats why I considered the above a (not well informed) opinion
(edited to remove too many letters)
>> Edited by gopher on Friday 9th May 23:20
Well according to the "World Wide Words" site www.quinion.com/words/articles/nineyards.htm it is a 1960's Americansim with no known explanation as to where it is from.
donatien said: A linked question - where does the phrase "the whole nine yards" come from?
>> Edited by icamm on Monday 12th May 13:15
JMGS4 said:
donatien said: A linked question - where does the phrase "the whole nine yards" come from?
Answer soon unless someone knows.
It isn't Anmerican football!
The amount of belted shells that fitted into a P52? Mustang as a reload!!!
Yep, it is a full strip of ammo as used in the Pacific. Not sure on the aircraft type but I suppose it was standard across several (Corsairs, etc). They were 27 feet or 9 yards long, and if a pilot got enthusiastic he would fire off the whole belt - hence the whole 9 yards
Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff