# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/41 "2008-07-20T14:08:49Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] [QUOTE=eleanorigby] YO! Limey–that’s Mrs O’Leary’s cow, and she “caused” the Chicago Fire. Please make a note of it! 😉 Well at least I knew it was a cow 😃 [/QUOTE] 🙂 And I meant to type "went to the Big [insertwhatIinsertedbefore] in the sky. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![chicken\_wire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@chicken\_wire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicken_wire)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/42 "2008-07-20T15:09:19Z")
Carking it. [QUOTE=Ice Wolf] That’s part of NewZild as well. Goes for anything, man or metal, that’s bitten the dust. [/QUOTE] When did we ever NOT borrow anything we liked the look of across the ditch? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/43 "2008-07-20T15:35:35Z")
Shopping the mahogany mini-mall ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/44 "2008-07-20T15:36:56Z")
[Nit-pick]This is an excellent thread, and great to read, but many of the expressions here technically aren’t “slang.” They’re really euphemisms. _Pass on_, for example, is simply a phrasal verb–not slang.[/Nit-pick] That said, I wonder if we could come up with an equal number of expressions for for being born (I guess you don’t need a euphemism for that). ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/45 "2008-07-20T15:38:53Z")
Pining for the fjords ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/46 "2008-07-20T15:48:28Z")
[QUOTE=chicken wire?] Carking it. > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Ice Wolf > That’s part of NewZild as well. Goes for anything, man or metal, that’s bitten the dust. When did we ever NOT borrow anything we liked the look of across the ditch? 😉 [/QUOTE] Nah, I meant that the slang term is common to both countries. We do borrow from Aussie as well as vice versa, y’know! 😉 > [@](#): > > Originally posted by guizot > I wonder if we could come up with an equal number of expressions for for being born (I guess you don’t need a euphemism for that We probably could boil up a fair number of examples. Saying “being born” gets boring after a while, and there’s something poetic enough about “coming into the world” that the variants are there. Around here (maybe in our cousin country as well) we say “being sprogged” now and then. ---
**Author:** ![CatInASuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@CatInASuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatInASuit)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/47 "2008-07-20T16:48:35Z")
**chowder** , I know Man City are Man City, but isn’t it a little early to be picking up new terms to describe their season. 😉 d&r ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/48 "2008-07-20T16:50:11Z")
[QUOTE=guizot] [Nit-pick]This is an excellent thread, and great to read, but many of the expressions here technically aren’t “slang.” They’re really euphemisms. _Pass on_, for example, is simply a phrasal verb–not slang.[/Nit-pick] That said, I wonder if we could come up with an equal number of expressions for for being born (I guess you don’t need a euphemism for that). [/QUOTE] Being born: Thrust into a cold, grey uncaring world without the courtesy of being asked if you _really_ wanted to go there ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/49 "2008-07-20T16:51:42Z")
[QUOTE=CatInASuit] **chowder** , I know Man City are Man City, but isn’t it a little early to be picking up new terms to describe their season. 😉 d&r [/QUOTE] hah, you may scoff and hurl jibes now matey, let’s hear you squeal when the season gets under way and City are thrashing all opposition ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/50 "2008-07-22T20:04:00Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] I just had a thought. Maybe the bucket one refers to Mrs Whatevers cow, yannow the one that caused Bostons fire. [/QUOTE] Her name was Mrs. O’Leary. Secondly, it was in Chicago, not Boston. Also, how could a cow kicking over a bucket start such a huge fire? In fact, it was really supposed to be a lantern, not a bucket. Mrs. O’Leary survived (I don’t know about her cow). ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/51 "2008-07-22T20:15:01Z")
He wouldn’t ‘voom’ if you put 20,000 volts through him. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/52 "2008-07-22T21:08:30Z")
[QUOTE=guizot] Her name was Mrs. O’Leary. Secondly, it was in Chicago, not Boston. Also, how could a cow kicking over a bucket start such a huge fire? In fact, it was really supposed to be a lantern, not a bucket. Mrs. O’Leary survived (I don’t know about her cow). [/QUOTE] Cough, cough…see post #36 ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/53 "2008-07-22T21:33:38Z")
Went away Went east (or west) Closed out his personnel records violated his warrantee ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/54 "2008-07-23T00:26:43Z")
[QUOTE=Ice Wolf] We do borrow from Aussie as well as vice versa, y’know! 😉 [/QUOTE] No, no… we _borrow_ from them, they _steal_ from us. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/55 "2008-07-23T00:47:53Z")
I’ve heard quite a few nurses say, “He/She has gone to heaven.” It always made me wonder where the inside information came from. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/56 "2008-07-23T01:21:06Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Cough, cough…see post #36 [/QUOTE] I’m fairly certain Mrs. O’Leary was the victim of slander by a malicious neighbor, but I can not find a cite … Has anyone mentioned “turned up [his] toes”? ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/57 "2008-07-23T01:52:27Z")
Bugled to Jesus. Step on a rainbow. (from Kinky Friedman) ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/58 "2008-07-23T02:32:47Z")
[QUOTE=j666] I’m fairly certain Mrs. O’Leary was the victim of slander by a malicious neighbor, but I can not find a cite … Has anyone mentioned “turned up [his] toes”? [/QUOTE] [Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1871_Great_Chicago_Fire#Questions_about_the_fire) is what Wiki has to say about it: > [@](#): > > More recently, amateur historian Richard Bales has come to believe it was actually started when Daniel “Pegleg” Sullivan, who first reported the fire, ignited some hay in the barn while trying to steal some milk. However, evidence recently reported in the Chicago Tribune by Anthony DeBartolo suggests Louis M. Cohn may have started the fire during a craps game. Cohn may also have admitted to starting the fire in a lost will, according to Alan Wykes in his 1964 book The Complete Illustrated Guide to Gambling. And I also found [this](http://www.thechicagofire.com/pegleg.php) which goes into a little more detail on Daniel “Pegleg” Sullivan. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/59 "2008-07-23T02:57:11Z")
Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993/60 "2008-07-23T11:13:11Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] hah, you may scoff and hurl jibes now matey, let’s hear you squeal when the season gets under way and City are thrashing all opposition [/QUOTE] There’s a “Best Joke on the SDMB” thread going on in ATMB at the moment - I’ll nominate this if you like :). I always perpetuate the story that “peg out” refers to the end of a game of croquet, but I think the game of cribbage is probably older. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slang-for-dying/456993.md?page=4)