What does "Whole nine yards" really refer to ? Where did it come from ?

Question

I've heard that was the length of a belt of ammo on a B52 bomber's machine gun and "give em the whole 9 yards meant fire the entire belt". But I've heard other explainations, too.

Thanks

Answer 1

in ways not relevant to war it means everything....like in context:

I bought jeans, shirts, make-up. The whole nine yards.

Answer 2

Check out some of the thoughts on these pages:

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_...

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-w...

No one really knows where this phrase originated and there are about a hundred different explanations for it.