Where Did the Expression “Kick the Bucket” Originate?
The expression originally came from the method used in stringing a hog after killing it. The pig after being slaughtered was hung by the hind legs. A piece of bent wood was passed in behind the tendons of each of the hind legs and the pig hung up by this stick of wood much like we hang up clothes with a clothes hanger today. The piece of wood was called a bucket. The “bucket” part of the expression does not, therefore, refer to a bucket at all but to this bent piece of wood. All are not agreed on this explanation, however, as it does not explain where the “kick” comes in. Many investigators hold to the belief that a man named Bolsover was the first to “kick the bucket” literally and that the expression came from the manner of his death. He stood on a pail or bucket while arranging to hang himself by tying a rope around his neck and to a beam which he could not reach without standing on the bucket. When ready he kicked the bucket out from under his feet and so succeeded in carrying out his own wishes and in so doing coined a famous expression which still means “to die.”