Kick the Bucket

Meaning

Today’s phrase of the day is a little different because it talks about a difficult subject, death. Kick the bucket is a euphemism that means someone died. A euphemism is a metaphor for something that is difficult to talk about. Death, sex, and bodily functions are considered taboo subjects that we avoid talking about directly. A lot of euphemisms talk about these subjects in a joking manner. I do know someone who recently had a death in the family, but I wouldn’t use ‘kick the bucket’ to talk about the situation because it would be disrespectful. I can’t think of many situations where it would be appropriate to use this phrase. If you are trying to downplay a death, you might use this phrase or when you are talking about your own death. Kick the bucket makes death sound not so serious.

Example: I would like to visit Spain before I kick the bucket.

 

 

A Harrowing Tale

I think the closest I have ever come to kicking the bucket was when I was quite young. I grew up on a farm and it is common for farm children to start driving tractors way before they learn how to drive a car. Compared to other farm kids, I was a little late to learn. One job I had was to use the harrows on the cow pasture. There are a few types of harrows, but their purpose is to break up the soil or smoothing the surface. Our harrows were large metal spikes that we dragged behind the tractor.

While I was still new to driving tractor, I had an accident. I took a corner too tightly and the harrows got caught on the large rear wheels. They wrapped around the wheel and came close to hitting my head. Since I wasn’t very good at driving yet, I didn’t know how to stop quickly. So, I was in danger longer than I should have been. But all’s well that end’s well and I survived without a scratch on my body. I could easily have kicked the bucket that day.

 

 

Origin

The oldest use of kick the bucket comes from The History of Edward and Maria (1775). It was first defined by Francis Grose in 1785. There are a few suggestions for where this phrase came from. The most popular suggestion is that it comes from suicide by hanging. When someone tries suicide in this manner, they would stand on a bucket or chair to reach the rafters. They would tie a rope around the rafters attached to their neck. When they kicked the bucket, they would fall and be hanged. I am reminded of the scene in Shawshank Redemption when Brooks takes his own life.

Another suggestion from Slang and Its Analogues (1904). They say that a “bucket” was used in Norfolk when slaughtering an animal. If an animal kicked the “bucket” they would be dead. The bucket was a beam on which the animal hung on when it was slaughtered.

There is also an old Catholic custom of washing the feet of dead people in holy water. They would place a bucket under the feet to collect the extra water. Some people believe

Finally, some people suggest that it has to do with milking animals. When a cow or a goat is milked, they sometimes kick the buck that the farmer is collect milk in. It comes from an old Latin proverb, capra scyria. It refers to a situation where there is a lot of potential, but the opportunity is wasted. If the goat kicks the bucket and spills her milk, she loses her riches (her milk is valuable).

 

 

The truth is that no one knows where this phrase comes from. The origin of kick the bucket has been lost to history.

See Also: Bought the farm, Going the way of the dodo, To die for, Suicide Survivor

 

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Resources:

blog.oup.com/2016/02/kick-the-bucket-idiom-origin-etymology/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kick_the_bucket
https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-kic1.htm
https://writingexplained.org/idiom-dictionary/kick-the-bucket
https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=tNttOhz6_s8C&pg=PT1110&lpg=PT1110&dq=Slang+and+Its+Analogues+kick+the+bucket&source=bl&ots=x_DjUdM2Hp&sig=ACfU3U2wClPQSBgzvxTTYdJ2P60N-z2OcQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjcitn0oJX3AhV_UfUHHcAeAcwQ6AF6BAg3EAM#v=onepage&q=Slang%20and%20Its%20Analogues%20kick%20the%20bucket&f=false
https://wordhistories.net/2017/01/03/to-kick-the-bucket/