Im Filmbrett
meinte jemand, das ist eine englische
Redewendung und bedeutet „eine Sache
durchziehen“. Kann das jemand bestätigen?
Ja, das kann ich. Es kann auch Bedeutungen ungefaehr wie „alles“ oder „das Ganze,“ „vollkommen“ und so weiter haben. Moegliche Saetze:
Q: Did you finish the job?
A: Yes, I did. The whole nine yards.
Sammy Davis, Jr. could sing, dance, play many instruments - the whole nine yards.
Q: Did you stay for the complete performance of „The Messiah?“
A: The whole nine yards.
Q: What was the pastor’s sermon about?
A: It seems he is against sin of all kinds: swearing, drinking, committing adultery, everything - the whole nine yards.
Q: What’s the story behind „Der Meistertrunk?“
A: Back during the Thirty Years War in Germany there was a medieval town with a wall, city gates, a moat - the whole nine yards, Rothenburg. (It still has the whole nine yards. That is because an american general stopped air attacks on it in the second world war before the whole nine yards was destroyed.) Anyway, the Swedish army came with soldiers with pikes, firearms, cannon, horses - the whole nine yards. There was a seige and finally the city was surrendered - the whole nine yards. The Swedish commander was mad and was going to make them all buy ABBA records.
Then the Swedish commander said he would spare the town if the mayor could drink all the beer in a giant tankard all at once. The mayor drank the whole nine yards and saved the town. Every year they re-enact the whole nine yards for the benefit of tourists.
http://www.rinkworks.com/rinkforum/messages/1530.shtml
Und woher kommt die Phrase? Eine gute Frage, wie es sich herausstellt. In an attempt to go the whole nine yards and answer that question too, I looked the phrase up in the internet. I found:
http://www.shu.ac.uk/web-admin/phrases/fallacy.html
http://www.psd.k12.co.us/archive/libnet/2648.html
mfG Jim