# The Grim Reaper **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 1999, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339 "1999-12-11T16:51:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 1999, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339/1 "1999-12-11T16:51:00Z")
How did the fable of the Grim Reaper get started? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 1999, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339/2 "1999-12-11T23:07:00Z")
I’m not sure about any specific tale. The M-W dates the phrase “grim reaper” to about 1927. The OED attributes “reaper” as a metaphor for the personification of death to Longfellow, around 1839. Prior to that, there are metaphors from as early as 1387 in which Death “cuts down” rich and poor with his scythe. It seems like a pretty natural association, to me. Death, like a farmer moving through grain, cuts everyone, irrespective of condition or position. I haven’t found anything better. (Even Brewer has no references.) * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 1999, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339/3 "1999-12-12T00:47:00Z")
> [@](#): > > _Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested._ > > Revelation 14:15-16 I’m not saying this is where the entire legend of the grim reaper came from, but you can’t deny the imagery. * * * “I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 1999, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339/4 "1999-12-12T05:06:00Z")
The imagery is less powerful now than it once was, since now days the percentage of people who have ever seen a reaper in action is fairly small. A man reaping a field has a large task, and a single means of accomplishing it. That makes it very likely that he will go about it in a very methodical and efficient manner. The result is a mechanical swing, like a metronome. A step, a swing, and a slight turn to lay the sheaf of grain aside. Then another step, another swing, and another sheaf is lain aside. The task is mindless, and the reaper becomes detached. When the image is that Death, considered as a person, is reaping souls, he can be seen in the mind’s eye walking along the row, in the manner of a reaper, relentless, inevitable, and unemotional. The image is grim, and the reaper himself gains that character. If the Grim Reaper is a good workman, then behind him there is nothing but the sheaves of those who have been cut down. Nothing still upright, and the field bare. ## **\

Tris\** It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress. – **Mark Twain** ---

**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 1999, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339/5 "1999-12-12T14:31:00Z")
Sometimes, in picyures of the Baby New Year & his companion the Old Year, they are shown carrying scythes or sickles. How is this connected to the image of a skeleton carrying a scythe? Is “The Old Year” trasformed into Death by the passage of time?\*\* I feel that these symbols must be connected somehow.\*\* Input, people? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 1999, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339/6 "1999-12-12T16:57:00Z")
I highly recommend REAPER MAN by Terry Pratchett… it will put your mind at rest about all this. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 1999, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339/7 "1999-12-13T16:58:00Z")
“Time like an ever-rolling stream bears all his sons away.” * * * John W. Kennedy “Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.” – Charles Williams ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339/8 "1999-12-14T06:56:00Z")
If he trades you dimes for nickels…calls watermelons pickles…then you KNOW you’re talkin’ to that Reaper Man. * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339/9 "1999-12-14T01:02:00Z")
Uh, Uke? Ain’t that the _Reefer_ Man? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 1999, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339/10 "1999-12-15T06:00:00Z")
Yes. It was a pun. (The palindrome of “Bolton” would be “Notlob.”) * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339/11 "1999-12-14T22:26:00Z")
There’s a haunting little story in Ray Bradbury’s _The October Country_ called The Scythe. Scary stuff, but I highly recommend it to everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 1999, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339/12 "1999-12-14T22:32:00Z")
well, hell. If we’re getting into book reviews, you can buy a copy of Hans Holbein’s THE DANCE OF DEATH (Dover Publicatons) which includes the woodcuts of Death scything down mortals, plus the verses in the original Latin and in modern translation. Pretty nifty stuff. Only $6.95. * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![APB9999](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB9999](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB9999)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 1999, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-grim-reaper/5339/13 "1999-12-15T01:23:00Z")
> [@](#): > > How did the fable of the Grim Reaper get started? Well, you, see, people kept _dying_… I will second the recommendation for Reaper Man.