The Whole Nine Yards
Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2024 1:34 am
Welcome to the Book Club and our March Activity.
Sky had the brilliant idea of calling it The Whole Nine Yards. I liked it but wondered what that phrase meant! Looking it up, I find that the phrase 'the whole nine yards' could possibly date back to the 1800s or even earlier.
These are not my words, they are from Google searches or from Sky's comments:
"The whole nine yards" or "the full nine yards" is a colloquial American English phrase meaning "everything, the whole lot" or, when used as an adjective, "all the way." Its first usage was the punch line of an 1855 Indiana comedic short story titled "The Judge's Big Shirt."
Another popular story holds that it refers to the length of an ammunition belt on World War II fighters — when a pilot had exhausted his ammunition, he said he had shot off the whole nine yards. Or it was the amount of cloth in the queen's bridal train, or in the Shroud of Turin.
Sky added
"Nine has been used as a superlative for a good few centuries now though (we can trace "to the nines" back to 18th century Scotland, for instance)."
But Sky also said "...lots of phrases have many, many different origin stories. Many of them are people trying to rationalise after the fact though and inventing a pretty story that fits the phrase (people call that "folk etymology") - if the story is a really nice fit, it's usually not true.
"
Be it as it may, our March activity is called "The Whole Nine Yards" because it started with me volunteering to present a simple set of Sudoku puzzles, posted once a week, each featuring a famous (or not so famous) author. Somehow it grew to more!
In addition to solving the Sudoku puzzle for each author, you are invited to write 90 words about the author and/or create a collage of 9 separate images that represent their life/work.
There will be four Sudoku puzzles for you to solve. Once a week, a new puzzle will be presented to you that you solve and send me the answer. In addition, within the topic for each Sudoku puzzle, you are invited to reply, adding to our knowledge about the author featured in the puzzle, with a write-up of at least 90 words (written in your own words, remember, no AI!) and a graphic creation containing nine separate images for that author representing their life and their work.
For each part of the week's celebration of an author, you can earn 20 Beans. So if you solve the sudoku, do a write-up and create a graphic, you will earn 60 Beans.
In addition to the Beans earned, if you complete at least 8 (eight) of the 12 opportunities given you in The Whole Nine Yards, you will earn The Whole Nine Yards Award --
.
Week 1 - The Whole Nine Yards - Scamander
Week 2 - The Whole Nine Yards - Pratchett
Week 3 - The Whole Nine Yards - Steinbeck
Week 4 - The Whole Nine Yards - Stevenson
Everything will be due by March 31st, 11:59 pm HOL time.
If you have any further questions not covered here, please ask here - The Whole Nine Yards Questions - or send me a HOL PM.
If for accessibility reasons you can't complete any of the Forum activities, please just let me know and an alternative can be worked out.
Sky had the brilliant idea of calling it The Whole Nine Yards. I liked it but wondered what that phrase meant! Looking it up, I find that the phrase 'the whole nine yards' could possibly date back to the 1800s or even earlier.
These are not my words, they are from Google searches or from Sky's comments:
"The whole nine yards" or "the full nine yards" is a colloquial American English phrase meaning "everything, the whole lot" or, when used as an adjective, "all the way." Its first usage was the punch line of an 1855 Indiana comedic short story titled "The Judge's Big Shirt."
Another popular story holds that it refers to the length of an ammunition belt on World War II fighters — when a pilot had exhausted his ammunition, he said he had shot off the whole nine yards. Or it was the amount of cloth in the queen's bridal train, or in the Shroud of Turin.
Sky added
"Nine has been used as a superlative for a good few centuries now though (we can trace "to the nines" back to 18th century Scotland, for instance)."
But Sky also said "...lots of phrases have many, many different origin stories. Many of them are people trying to rationalise after the fact though and inventing a pretty story that fits the phrase (people call that "folk etymology") - if the story is a really nice fit, it's usually not true.
" Be it as it may, our March activity is called "The Whole Nine Yards" because it started with me volunteering to present a simple set of Sudoku puzzles, posted once a week, each featuring a famous (or not so famous) author. Somehow it grew to more!
In addition to solving the Sudoku puzzle for each author, you are invited to write 90 words about the author and/or create a collage of 9 separate images that represent their life/work.
There will be four Sudoku puzzles for you to solve. Once a week, a new puzzle will be presented to you that you solve and send me the answer. In addition, within the topic for each Sudoku puzzle, you are invited to reply, adding to our knowledge about the author featured in the puzzle, with a write-up of at least 90 words (written in your own words, remember, no AI!) and a graphic creation containing nine separate images for that author representing their life and their work.
For each part of the week's celebration of an author, you can earn 20 Beans. So if you solve the sudoku, do a write-up and create a graphic, you will earn 60 Beans.
In addition to the Beans earned, if you complete at least 8 (eight) of the 12 opportunities given you in The Whole Nine Yards, you will earn The Whole Nine Yards Award --
.Week 1 - The Whole Nine Yards - Scamander
Week 2 - The Whole Nine Yards - Pratchett
Week 3 - The Whole Nine Yards - Steinbeck
Week 4 - The Whole Nine Yards - Stevenson
Everything will be due by March 31st, 11:59 pm HOL time.
If you have any further questions not covered here, please ask here - The Whole Nine Yards Questions - or send me a HOL PM.
If for accessibility reasons you can't complete any of the Forum activities, please just let me know and an alternative can be worked out.
it was fun regardless.