h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Why do we say 'dressed up to the nines' and 'at sixes and sevens'? The Oxford English Dictionary gives the first as meaning 'dressed elaborately' and the second as meaning 'in confusion or disorder', but it doesn't go any further than that. Can anybody out there help?

Since I was born in Levi's, I won't even pretend to be an authority on elaborate dress. I've read or heard somewhere that when the phrase was coined, buttons and loops were the only fasteners on clothing. Tall, fancy boots had nine buttons, and required a valet or maid to fasten. Nine buttons, hence, "dressed to the nines."

I'm at sixes and sevens about the other phrase, although I've only heard it spoken aloud in England, and the musical version of "Evita."

The only regular numerical phrase one hears here is "24/7/365", which means you don't get any days off, or much sleep.

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You realize, of course, how dangerous it is to allow the dissemination of that much documented evidence out among the general populace, don't you?

This means many, many, more fist-poundingly correct drunks at the bar the next time you go.

It is brilliant - bookmark bookmark bookmark

BTW are we collecting them?

Give me five
Fifty-fifty


I'll wait till someone else mentions soixante-neuf

Oh, come on! If you're going to come out with numerical sayings, pick some where the origin is a bit more obscure. Those are so well known that the origin is obvious. That's no fun!

Okay, how about "the whole nine yards"?

Does 08/15 have a meaning to you?

How about 10-36?

08/15 and 10-36 mean nothing to me, so I guess they must be American(?). I tried the 'World Wide Words' site for 'the whole nine yards'. Apparently it's one that defies definition. It's first recorded use is back in the 60s and it's mainly an American saying. Here's an extract from the site's entry on the phrase:

"While looking into it, I've seen references to the size of a nun's habit, the amount of material needed to make a man's three-piece suit, the length of a maharajah's ceremonial sash, the capacity of a West Virginia ore wagon, the volume of rubbish that would fill a standard garbage truck, the length of a hangman's noose, how far you would have to sprint during a jail break to get from the cellblock to the outer wall, the length of a standard bolt of cloth, the volume of a rich man's grave, or just possibly the length of his shroud, the size of a soldier's pack, the length of cloth needed for a Scottish "great kilt", or some distance associated with sports or athletics, especially the game of American football."

The article the proceeds to knock a lot of these on the head. In particular, a man's three-piece suit only takes 5 yards of cloth, and you need to run 10 yards to score a 'first down' (whatever that is) in American football. Others won't pass muster because the origin of the phrase would have to go back much further than it's first recorded use.

Check out the site if you want to know more. It's a great site if, like me, you're fascinated by why we say the things we do.

08/15 is used in germany to denote something that is absolutely common or of average value. I cannot say where it origins from.

Aha!

A man's bespoke suit (jacket and trousers) takes 5 yards. Go for the waistcoat and the second pair of pants, and you need the whole nine yards.

Dredged up from the nether world of nearly dead brain cells...

"10-36" is American police-scanner-eze for a request for the time. President Lincoln was supposedly shot in the theatre at 10:36 p.m., so traditionally, all stopped clocks (like in clock and watch shops), and photos of clocks in advertising, had the time set at 10:36. Daresay no one in America under 40 remembers this quaint tradition, though.

24/7/365 really bugs me.

24 hours a day

7 days a week

365 weeks a year??

Perhaps this is the latest way for paying us less for more work?

I was under the impression that "the whole nine yards" came from World War II due to the fact that nine yards was the standard length for a chain (?) of anti-aircraft shells on US vessels. Giving something "the whole nine yards" was basically saying "Keep shooting until it stops working, then shoot it some more just to make sure." I could be wrong though.

No, a man's THREE-PIECE suit (capitals for emphasis, not shouting!) takes 5 yards, not a two-piece suit - unless you're very tall. A waistcoat takes about 0.75 yards - less if the back is made of different fabric (which it usually is). There's no way a pair of trousers takes more than 3 yards. 2 yards would be nearer the mark.

Well, one of the theories put forward in 'Worldwide Words' is that it was the length of a magazine of shells on the Supermarine Spitfire. Both theories would cover it not being in use before the Second World War. But if either is correct, how come the first recorded use is in the 1960s? If it was a Second World War thing, I'd expect references to the phrase no later than 1950.

Maybe nobody started writing WWII memoirs until 1960? They were a notoriously closed-mouth bunch, "loose lips sink ships" and whatnot.

I will have to throw my vote with this concept, since the suit sank without a trace...

Maybe nobody started writing WWII memoirs until 1960? They were a notoriously closed-mouth bunch, "loose lips sink ships" and whatnot.

I will have to throw my vote with this concept, since the suit sank without a trace...

Of course, that's a Florida vote, so you may have to recount it.

I wonder if anybody in Florida voted twice. It might explain a lot!