I thought it referred to football - 4th down and 9 yards to go so you had to
go the whole nine yards (;+>
Kenneth Waller
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/kennethwaller
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stanley Halpin" <s...@stans-photography.info>
Subject: Re: road trip pics
On Jun 30, 2014, at 7:36 PM, Jack Davis <jdavi...@comcast.net> wrote:
So interesting, John. Thanks.
I've parked much of the information to be read later.
As an aside; claimed basis for the expression,"whole nine yards."
Explained to me some years ago: Second WW fighter plane machine guns were
supplied with bullet bandoliers of nine yards in length. If a gunner
emptied the bandoliers of bullets, it was said: "he gave them the whole
nine yards."
I wonder where the expression "really" comes from. <G>
Jack
Wikipedia says:
Its origin is unknown and has been described as "the most prominent
etymological riddle of our time.”
The WWII explanation is dismissed as not consistent with a first published
usage in 1907.
First published usage was with reference to a baseball game. My theory: A
yard has three feet. An inning has three outs. A full nine yards = a full
nine innings of play.
stan
----- Original Message -----
From: "John" <sesso...@earthlink.net>
To: "PDML" <pdml@pdml.net>
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2014 2:00:55 PM
Subject: Re: road trip pics
Either "take with a grain of salt" or try to find a low sodium
substitute 8-D
They're not "telescoping" sections per se, but they can be raised,
lowered, removed & replaced.
Looking again at Christine's image of the "Friendship" in Salem, MA it
does look like the Mizzen Topmast has been lowered. There's a stub of
the lower mast that protrudes above the crosstrees (that little platform
in the middle of the masts). The lower part of the mast is that vertical
black stripe.
The three masts are the Foremast (in the front), Mainmast (in the
middle) & the Mizzen (Mizzenmast). Usually on a full rigged ship the
Mainmast is the tallest, the Foremast is the second tallest, and the
Mizzen is the third tallest. The sections of a mast (from the deck up)
are the Lower (or "Mast"), Topmast, Topgallant mast, Royal mast.
In Paul's photo the Topgallant masts are fitted on all three masts. In
Christine's photo, only the Topmasts appear to be fitted & the Mizzen
Topmast appears to be in a stowed position.
Typically, sailing ships would carry spare sections of masts & spars in
case part of a mast was carried away in a storm. In an emergency, one of
the spars could be substituted for a portion of a mast. Technically, all
masts, booms, yards or gaffs are spars; their names tell as much about
how they are rigged as about their size & shape. The tapering spars that
hold the tops of the square sails are called "yards".
One good source for nautical terms & how they're used are the works of
C.S. Forrester, particularly the Horatio Hornblower series. Another good
source (although not quite so much fun) is Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_rigged_ship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigging
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yard_%28sailing%29
Everything I know about the subject came from one of those two sources.
PS: http://www.ageofsail.net/aostermi.asp
PPS: A full rigged ship with three full masts (Mast, Topmast &
Topgallant Mast) would nominally have had 9 yards (3 x 3) to hold up
it's sails, and has been suggested as the source of the expression "the
whole nine yards".
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