# Slang for dying **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 18, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993 "2008-07-18T21:11:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/1 "2008-07-18T21:11:02Z")
I just watched _The Bucket List_ and a very good if emotional film it is. I can understand “Shuffling off” and “Turning your toes up” along with a few more expressions but I got to wondering where the following came/originated from: Kick the Bucket Peg out Pop your clogs Croak Doubtless there are others, the meanings of which are somewhat obscure ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/2 "2008-07-18T21:20:34Z")
Pass away Pass on Left us Departed Snuff it Bite the Big Cookie Buy the farm ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/3 "2008-07-18T21:22:52Z")
The first 5 are self explanatory, the last 2 not so ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/4 "2008-07-18T21:25:16Z")
Bought the farm = going away to another place far away and not coming back? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/5 "2008-07-18T21:28:39Z")
Signing off? Lights out? Thought of another; The Big Sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/6 "2008-07-18T21:35:58Z")
Variants of ones already mentioned: Bite it Kick it Buy it Pass Others Meet one’s maker Become worm food ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/7 "2008-07-18T21:36:22Z")
My personal favorite for inanimate objects like servers or water heaters: went/gone “tits-up” I’ve heard the explanation of “bought the farm” elsewhere on the Dope, but can’t remember the details… But I did look up the [snopes](http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/farm.asp) entry for it in time to edit. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/8 "2008-07-18T21:39:18Z")
He’s not dead, he’s resting! [What?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTSAFcLXqYY) ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/9 "2008-07-18T21:42:13Z")
he’s circling the drain bit the big one 10-7 (local cop code for out of service) he was DRT (dead right there) taking a dirt nap assume room temperature went belly-up ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/10 "2008-07-18T21:47:51Z")
Shuffled off the mortal coil joined the choir invisible has ceased to be ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/11 "2008-07-18T21:50:52Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Bite the Big Cookie [/QUOTE] You made that up didn’t you? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/12 "2008-07-18T21:53:42Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] The first 5 are self explanatory, the last 2 not so [/QUOTE] ‘Bite the big cookie’ is a version of ‘bite the big one’. Perhaps from ‘bite the dust’? ‘Buy the farm’. The most common explanation I’ve heard comes from WWII, when pilots (also aircrews and soldiers) would say that when the war is over they’ll buy a farm and live a peaceful life. If someone ‘buys the farm’, then the war is over for him. Another obvious one: Dirt nap/sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/13 "2008-07-18T21:57:05Z")
[QUOTE=Don’t fight the hypothetical] You made that up didn’t you? 🙂 [/QUOTE] My friends and I used it in high school. I did find [this](http://compostfiles.blogspot.com/2006/08/f-word.html): > [@](#): > > [T]he phrase ‘bite the big cookie’ was a phrase used by nurses a long time back when the word ‘die’ was not allowed in hospitals. Another one is ‘bought the box’. I think one or two of my friends had a mother in nursing. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/14 "2008-07-18T23:06:19Z")
[QUOTE=Santo Rugger] Bought the farm = going away to another place far away and not coming back? [/QUOTE] No, it referes to the last plot of ground you’ll ever settle. ---
**Author:** ![IrreverentTone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@IrreverentTone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IrreverentTone)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/15 "2008-07-18T23:27:33Z")
Hop the twig. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/16 "2008-07-18T23:29:35Z")
[QUOTE=IrreverentTone] Hop the twig. [/QUOTE] Mott the Hoople. (j/k) ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/17 "2008-07-18T23:57:56Z")
When I worked in a hospital with 7 floors, a person “went to Level 8”. Sickest one…" they gave me 60" or “they left the building and didn’t give me 60”…£60 is the payment a doctor gets for filling out a cremation form, so either the patient died and got cremated, or they died and got buried (in which case the doctor gets nothing). ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/18 "2008-07-19T02:17:38Z")
[QUOTE=Cub Mistress] assume room temperature [/QUOTE] 😃😃😃 Isn’t “peg out” a cribbage term for ending the game? ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/19 "2008-07-19T02:49:53Z")
Expire Toes up in the marble orchard **irishgirl** - Why do they need a special doctor-signed form for cremation. Surely dead is dead? StG ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/20 "2008-07-19T02:54:21Z")
[QUOTE=StGermain] Surely dead is dead? [/QUOTE] He could only be _mostly_ dead. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993.md?page=2)