Idioms

Kick the bucket

This is a light-hearted way of saying that someone has died. You certainly would never say to your neighbour: 'I am sorry to hear your husband has kicked the bucket.' You might use the phrase when talking about a bad film in which a character finally dies after several close shaves. 'Has he finally kicked the bucket? About time, too!'

Or you might use the idiom during conversation but you wouldn't want to get too serious. 'Well, we all kick the bucket some day, don't we?' or 'When I kick the bucket, I don't want people to make too much fuss'. It is far more acceptable to talk of our own death light-heartedly than that of others.

Where does this idiom come from? How can buckets and kicking them have anything to do with death? Some people rather desperately (but cleverly) try to connect them by referring to people who commit suicide by hanging themselves. You attach a rope to a beam, stand on a bucket, and kick it away with fatal results. It is unlikely, however, that this was common enough to give rise to the idiom. And why not use a stool or a chair?

The idiom actually originated from the way pigs were slaughtered in the past. They were hung upside down on a piece of wood called a bucket. Their heels kicked against it as they died, so to 'kick the bucket' was to meet your end. The phrase was gradually extended to humans and it is still used today.

Break a leg