And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Nope, another myth. There was no "standard" belt, different planes carried different numbers of rounds, outboard guns different than inboard (on some aircraft), different loadouts depending on mission, .30 vs. .50 vs. 20mm all different lengths for a given number of rounds.
The earliest known idiomatic use of the phrase is from 1907 in Southern Indiana.
The phrase 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).
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.
Ammo in plane wing, how much can the wing hold and does it auto load when one strand is empty? Is ammo on one side of wing only? Curious mind wants to know.
The P-51 had three 50 cal machine guns per wing, the P-47 had 4 per wing, and the twin engine P-38 had 4 machine guns and a 20mm auto cannon in the nose. Each gun was served by a dedicated belt of ammo and when the belt was used up that was it. Typically the last 10 rounds per belt were tracers so the pilot knew when the gun was almost empty.
My Dad said when you fired the guns you could feel the recoil slow down the plane.
The cockpit of the P-38 would fill with the smell of cordite. At least one pilot said he had fired so much that momentarily he couldn't see for the gunsmoke.
I can see right now that most of you have never humped a machine gun or carried ammunition for the gunner. If you had, you would know that the standard length of a belt of Cal. 30, 7.62mm or 50-cal., going back to when the infantryman started humping machine gun ammo, was one-hundred rounds and certainly not 9 yards.
Nope, another myth. There was no "standard" belt, different planes carried different numbers of rounds, outboard guns different than inboard (on some aircraft), different loadouts depending on mission, .30 vs. .50 vs. 20mm all different lengths for a given number of rounds.
ReplyDeleteThe phrase predates machine guns, and is rooted in textile jargon.
ReplyDelete9 yards is a standard bolt of cloth. If you had a custom suit that used “the whole 9 yards”, it was considered one of a kind.
DeleteSFC D
The earliest known idiomatic use of the phrase is from 1907 in Southern Indiana.
ReplyDeleteThe phrase 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).
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.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_whole_nine_yards
Ammo in plane wing, how much can the wing hold and does it auto load when one strand is empty? Is ammo on one side of wing only? Curious mind wants to know.
ReplyDeleteThe P-51 had three 50 cal machine guns per wing, the P-47 had 4 per wing, and the twin engine P-38 had 4 machine guns and a 20mm auto cannon in the nose. Each gun was served by a dedicated belt of ammo and when the belt was used up that was it. Typically the last 10 rounds per belt were tracers so the pilot knew when the gun was almost empty.
DeleteMy Dad said when you fired the guns you could feel the recoil slow down the plane.
The cockpit of the P-38 would fill with the smell of cordite. At least one pilot said he had fired so much that momentarily he couldn't see for the gunsmoke.
DeleteConcrete trucks carry 8 yards, but hold nine....................
ReplyDeleteThat's how I learned it.............
All this time, I thought it was how much gravel a dump truck carried.
DeleteWhatever, in Australia we’ve always known it as the “whole 8.2296 metres”
ReplyDeleteI can see right now that most of you have never humped a machine gun or carried ammunition for the gunner. If you had, you would know that the standard length of a belt of Cal. 30, 7.62mm or 50-cal., going back to when the infantryman started humping machine gun ammo, was one-hundred rounds and certainly not 9 yards.
ReplyDelete