The Record (KUOW), “Ben Zimmer: On The Whole 9 Yards And Phrase Inflation”

September 5, 2013

Interview with KUOW’s “The Record” about the origins of the expression “the whole nine yards.” (Sept. 5, 2013)

Did you know that the phrase “the whole 9 yards” used to be “the whole 6 yards?” It’s true. And cloud nine, that fantastic place to be, used to be cloud seven, then cloud eight. So how did we get to nine yards and cloud nine? Ben Zimmer is back today to talk about phrase inflation as we consider our series on strange language.

(Show page, related Word Routes column)

Previous post:

Next post: