How did the phrase Kicked the Bucket come to mean that a person died.
What is the bucket? I’ve actually kicked a bucket or two and the most I ever got was a stubbed toe and a wet floor.
Thanks
(from the linked article)
This dates from the 16th centry!?! Wow!
I wonder what the oldest bit of slang that is still in common use.
I hestiate to mention it, because I doubt that it’s a valid derivation, but J. L. Dillard espouses the theory that “kick the bucket” comes from a West African language. As one possibile source, he cites “kekerebu”, which means “dead” in Krio. One caveat: Dillard has a tendency to see a West African orgin in almost every unexplained turn of phrase. He’s probably wrong most of the time, but he may be right occasionally.
Why does “bought the farm” mean the same thing?
A later column by Morris essentially repeats the Green info, but adds:
WordOrigins adds:
Morris says about bought the farm:
Another source says also that it refers to a cask placed under a large steer that was hanged by its rear legs from a beam and then slaughtered, with the blood, entrails, etc., falling into the bucket. As the rope was jerked to maneuver the animal, its front hooves would “kick” the bucket, leading to its meaning death. No date of origination cited.
Garrison, Webb, “Why You Say It”, MJF Books, New York, 1992, pp. 163-4.
hijack/(Personally, I liked the treatment in the first scenes of “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” in which the Jimmy Durante character literally does it. First of hundreds of sight gags in the funniest of all movies.)/hijack
I was lookiing up origins of pharases and a while ago and found this site http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/HaveOrigins.htm
for kick the bucket it says the following:
**Kick the bucket **
Meaning: To die or stop working.
Example: My old car finally kicked the bucket.
Origin: Pigs to be slaughtered are bled, that is the blood is drained from the body. One way this is accomplished is to hang the pig upside down from a bar (by one foot) that used to be known as a “buchet,” a French word for it. The pig’s throat was cut or opened with a sharp spike (See “bleed like a stuck pig”), and it would rapidly be bled. In its death throes, it would always, always kick the buchet.
Thanks to Kensmark
Alternatively,
Refers to an inverted bucket that a person who is being hung might stand on. When the bucket is kicked out, the person is hung and dies.
hope this has been helpful to a number of you.
I always thought “bought the farm” refered to the little plot of land that now belong to the dead person. (the grave)
My guess is that the derivations listed by Ignatz, yorick76, and Zebra are all examples of folk etymology.
Heavens! I scrolled down on the Word Detective’s “Kicked the bucket” page, and found the entry for “moreso.” How could this savage discuss “moreso” without quoting Lydia, The Tattooed Lady? What’s this world coming to? You could learn a lot from Lydia. 
It wouldn’t work for it to mean “going to the store to buy milk and eggs”. It fits “death” better.
My humor is as dry as the Kalahari.
I always assumed “bought the farm” referred to the life insurance of the deceased paying off the mortgage.
Well, I’ve often wondered if the expression ‘you’re pulling my leg’ (meaning ‘you’re lying to me’) was related to, or derived from:
Whenever I hear the term “kick the bucket” I can’t help but remember the initial scene in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Those who have seen it will know what I mean.