Kick the Bucket
The literal meaning of kick the bucket sounds harmless. However, the idiom fills many people with fear.
When we kick the bucket, we die.
Kick the bucket may have started when hanging was a common method of execution. Sometimes criminals stood on a bucket while the rope went around their necks. Another person then kicked the bucket out from under their feet.
Many people rather not talk about death.
Perhaps that’s why we use so many idioms instead:
- Push up daisies
- Bite the dust
- Croak
- Pass away
- Depart this life
- Meet our Maker
- Go to our reward
- Fade away
- Breathe our last
- Laid to rest
We have many more, but you get the idea.
We avoid a hard truth by the words we choose.
Notice how western movies describe death. Like “Wild Bill” Hickok, cowboys are laid to rest with their boots on and their heads pointed west. Whatever the words, they remain graveyard dead.
Death is a natural part of life.
As Dr. L. Nelson Bell said “Only those who are prepared to die are really prepared to live.”
If we prepare to meet our Maker, we need not fear.
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain” (1 Corinthians 15:55 and Philippians 1:21 NET).
Next week we will look at the related but more popular expression, bucket list.
Do you have an expression you want explained? If so, please comment below.
Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email and receive a free copy of “Words of Hope for Days that Hurt.”
If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.