Sayings:

[marybank]

The phrase 'step up to the plate' is heard often now. Where did it originate, and why has it become so popular in recent times.

[jno]

it's from baseball - the plate is the place where the batter stands to bat, so when he steps up to it he is preparing to do his job, show what he's made of etc. American, like many common phrases these days.

[zeberdee]

I was told it was to do with old steam engines. The plate was where the poor guy shoveling coal stood, feeding the fires, ready for action.

[jno]

sounds possible. This one agrees with me, though:

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php? t=211624

[marybank]

Thanks for those answers. I think the baseball one is the most likely, seem to think I have heard it mostly used in a sporting context.

[andy-hughes]

I've always understod the baseball connection to be the correct one, as in

rain check

the whole nine yards.

[Playbill]

I was told that 'the whole nine yards' refers to the length of a machine gun belt in the wing of a WW2 fighter plane.
Thus when you had used all your ammunition you had 'gone the whole nine yards'.