My favorite around the hospital is “going home with a capital H”.
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor]
No, it referes to the last plot of ground you’ll ever settle.
[/QUOTE]
That was also my understanding – you bought a grass farm, 8’ x 2’, with head stone.
A personal favorite that’s under used: paws up.
[QUOTE=Cub Mistress]
he’s circling the drain
[/QUOTE]
Isn’t this one for dying, and not actually dead? Someone who’s very sick could be called “circling the drain,” no?
Yup.
These are all well and good but as yet no-one has explained why "Kick the Bucket is used to mean somebody has “Cashed in their Chips”
[QUOTE=chowder]
These are all well and good but as yet no-one has explained why "Kick the Bucket is used to mean somebody has “Cashed in their Chips”
[/QUOTE]
I dunno about the bucket one, but I bet the chip thing has something to do with British cuisine.
Snap! 
[QUOTE=BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed]
I dunno about the bucket one, but I bet the chip thing has something to do with British cuisine.
Snap!
[/QUOTE]
I just had a thought.
Maybe the bucket one refers to Mrs Whatevers cow, yannow the one that caused Bostons fire.
The chips could be a casino reference, nuffink at all to do with our fine food
Shit the Bed
[QUOTE=dbuzman]
Shit the Bed
[/QUOTE]
Never trust a fart?
Kicked (or gave up) the oxygen habit.
[QUOTE=chowder]
These are all well and good but as yet no-one has explained why "Kick the Bucket is used to mean somebody has “Cashed in their Chips”
[/QUOTE]
The most plausible explanation for kick the bucket is that “bucket” is an archaic term for a beam from which animals were hung by their feet to be slaughtered. The animal would kick its feet in its death throes, and so, quite literally, “kicked the bucket.”
oft-used by Rush Limbaugh: “assumed room temperature”
Went to the Happy Hunting Grounds
gangland killing; “He caught lead poisoning. Heh, heh, heh.”
I’m surprised “6 ft under” hasn’t been mentioned yet!
Hand him a Bible (Torah, Koran) so he can study for the final?
Passed beyond the Rim (of course…)
Won’t be down for breakfast.
[QUOTE=chowder]
I just had a thought.
Maybe the bucket one refers to Mrs Whatevers cow, yannow the one that caused Bostons fire.
The chips could be a casino reference, nuffink at all to do with our fine food
[/QUOTE]
YO! Limey–that’s Mrs O’Leary’s cow, and she “caused” the Chicago Fire. Please make a note of it! 
RE “circling the drain”–that means not dead yet, but very soon will be around here.
“croak” I imagine comes from the weird breathing and the sigh that can occur immediately post-life.
here are some I’ve heard over the years in the hospital:
going upstairs
passing over
calling for Mama
bit the big one
was called home / was called over
went to that big [insert job title or occupation/place of residence here]
dust in the wind
finally at peace
at rest
flat lined
pronounced
SOL (shit out of luck) /TOD (time of death)
[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 
Carked it. Possibly derived from “carcass”. Strine, mate.
pushing up daisies
[QUOTE=chicken wire?]
Carked it. Possibly derived from “carcass”. Strine, mate.
[/QUOTE]
That’s part of NewZild as well. Goes for anything, man or metal, that’s bitten the dust.