It comes from a play set in Yorkshire where, when describing how another
character dies, someone says, (from memory, this is), "He just sat down,
popped his cloggs off and passed away."
I can't remember the play, sorry!
the expression buying the farm is indeed from the war, where the dream of
many young GIs was to save up enough money to buy a small farm, (in Idaho i
think it usually is). When they died, they were said to have gone to heaven
and therefore fulfilled their dream - bought the farm. It may have come from
an interview by a war correspondent.
Grant.
> ----------
> From: J Ramage
> Reply To:
[hidden email]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 15:37 PM
> To:
[hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [SHADO]
>
> >> Where does the expression 'he's out of it' originate from in
> > England, do you know? I believe that the expression 'buying the
> > farm' 'or he bought the farm' may have come from wartime.
>
> I have four books on word and phrase origins and none of them list these
> phrases. What value for money those were! My favourite phrase from my
> area
> for dying has to be 'popped his clogs', which my mum uses frequently. God
> knows where that's from.
>
> Jess
>
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
>
>
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