Whole nine yards

Used since the 18th century to describe a ship.
'Ship' is a pretty homogenous term these days, but back then, to describe a vessel as a 'true' ship, it had to have 3 masts (fore, main, and mizzen) and on each of these were 3 sails (main, top, and topgallant) suspended from horizontal 'yards'. To handle so many sails, a fairly large crew is required. Warships carried much, much larger crews than merchantmen, and so it was only warships and the large, prestigeous merchant ships such as East Indiamen that could be described as having 'the whole (or full) nine yards'.

"There; hull-down and fine off the starboard bow. She's a warship alright; the whole nine yards"

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Barber's Pole

The result of a sexual liaison with a menstruating woman.

"I finally got down & dirty with that Janet, but she'd got the painters in. Didn't much care at the time, but my dick looked like a goddam Barber's Pole when it was over"

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