a nine-iron is from the old days, back when my fathers shirts were 100% cotton and had to be ironed!

As in "Iron my shirts?" "Nein!" I presume. That'd be my answer, if I knew German. The one job I ever got fired from was ironing shirts. I wanted a gardening job, but the job office folks said no, that was boys' work an if I didn't know how to iron shirts yet at 16 how would I manage when I got married. Can you believe it?!