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Old 01-10-2009, 03:27 AM   #12 (permalink)
Hairy
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Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Bath, UK
Posts: 86
Quote:
Originally Posted by MonsteroftheId View Post
All idioms have their origins so I'd be hard pressed to come up with one that didn't "make sense" logically, even if the literal meaning is no longer clear (e.g. 'the whole nine yards'.)
That one was apparently down to the fact that US belt-fed aircraft machine guns had nine yards of ammo - giving someone the whole nine yards means you put quite a bit of effort in. You also, presumably, reduced them to a fine grain of pate.
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