[IamConservative]

Two more good ones..

"The whole nine yards" - World War II fighter plane - the P51 perhaps - carried 27 feet of ammo for each gun. When they returned empty, the flight crew would say: "I see you gave'em the whole nine yards."

"Rule of Thumb" - refers to an old British law wherein a man could beat his wife if he used a switch no larger than his thumb. (This may be where the East German womens Olympic team got their start. :)

[Lion in Winter]

I think the whole nine yards is older than WWII. I remember my Grandad using the phrase and he died in 1938.