Death Becomes Them: The Origins and History of Idioms Related to Death

Photograph of Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois (Source: Boston, C)

 

It is said that when there are various ways of talking about a subject it must have value.  Consider the number of ways of talking about love or money.  Unfortunately, the value attached to a specific does not have to be positive, such as in the case of talking about death.  European languages have numerous idioms/phrases related to death.  This demonstrates the importance of death within these cultural groups, particularly the apparent fear and discomfort the topic brings with it.  Death comes to everyone at some point, making it an inevitability.  The creation of various phrases surrounding death provides us insights into cultural values over time, which is the topic of today’s blog post.  You will learn about those values and the changes to them over time as we discuss three phrases related to death: kick the bucket, dead as a doornail, and pushing up daisies.

 

Kick the Bucket

 

This phrase is a relatively new one in the English language, and it is also one of the more poorly understood ones.  To kick the bucket is to reference that someone is dead, which in and of itself does not provide much in the way of contexts or values attached to the phrase.  It was first recorded in the late 1700s, although which source published the phrase first is debated.  There are some that say it was first recorded in a British serial, whereas others claim it was in a vulgar phrase book.  Neither provides much in the way of substance information concerning the origins and original meaning, however. 

 

Many attribute the phrase to reference suicides.  The notion of kicking the bucket comes from the idea that individuals who commit suicide would stand on a bucket and “kick” it from underneath their feet to initiate suffocation from being hanged.  There is no recorded evidence that supports this assertion, however. 

 

Other explanations attribute the phrase to the butchery of animals.  The name of the rack that animals are hung from was originally called a bucket, and it was supposed that as animals were killed they would kick that rack.  This, however, is also doubtful as most butchers do not hang live animals.  They wait for the animal to already be dead before hanging it for dressing/butchery purposes.  Furthermore, there is no written or oral evidence of butchers exclusively using the phrase in reference to their occupational responsibilities.

 

There remains one additional explanation for the origins of this phrase: Catholic mortuary rituals.  Some claim that Catholics would bring in a bucket of holy water to sit at the feet of a dying individual, and the holy water would be sprinkled upon the body at death.  This, too, is doubted, though.

 

Ultimately, the origins of kick the bucket remain unknown, although it is considered a humorous way of discussing death.

 

Dead as a Doornail

 

Dead as a doornail is a phrase that does not just reference death but the finality of death.  To say someone or something is dead as a doornail is to mean that they are really dead.  As in there is no chance of return.  They are definitely dead. 

 

This phrase was first used in 1350 by William Langland in his poem, Guillaume de Palerne, which he wrote in French.  He used the phrase in another poem 20 years later.  Just over 200 years later Shakespeare appropriated the phrase in one of his plays, followed by Charles Dickens when he wrote The Christmas Carol.  To be dead as… is a popular euphemism, but the origins of why a doornail was chosen are actually known.  Before the Industrial Revolution and the advent of machine forged tools and technology items were handmade, nails included.  They were painstakingly crafted and considered a hot commodity, so much so that if a building was torn or burned down people would take great care in recovering the nails.  If the nail was rendered unusable due to it being hammered incorrectly it was considered dead.  This is why dead as a doornail means to be dead dead because much like that incorrectly hammered nail there is no coming back and being useful after death.

 

Pushing Up Daisies

 

Pushing up daisies is a relatively newer phrase added to the English lexicon, but it may have actually had French origins.  This phrase makes reference to death and flowers, conjuring up imagery of the flowers either laid to rest at a grave or that take over after the ground is disturbed by digging and covering a grave. 

 

This phrase comes from British slang that was used by soldiers who fought during the first World War, and it was made famous/public in 1918 in a poem by Wilfred Owen.  Her poem made reference to the graves of the fallen soldiers who lost their lives during the war.   It is believed that the British soldiers may have borrowed this phrase from their French compatriots as there is actually a French phrase that is quite similar: eating the dandelion at the root.  This phrase was first published by Victor Hugo in his book Les Miserables, and much like pushing up daisies it references graves, death, and flowers.

 

Works Cited

Crotty, David. "Dead as a Doornail ." 19 November 2021. The Scholarly Kitchen. Electronic. 7 July 2023.

Dictionary.com. "Pushing Up Daisies." 2022. Dictionary.com. Electronic. 7 July 2023.

Liberman, Anatoly. "More on idioms: “kick the bucket”." 16 February 2016. Oxford University Press. Electronic. 7 July 2023.

Martin, Gary. The Phrase Finder. n.d. Electronic. 7 July 2023.

No Author. "The Meanings Behind Famous Floral Sayings." 16 October 2018. Fresh Trimmings. Electronic. 7 July 2023.

Quinion, Michael. "Kick the Bucket." 5 March 2016. World Wide Words. Electronic. 7 July 2023.