Does anybody know the origin of the phrase kick the bucket?
“It seems that one method of slaughtering a pig used to involve hanging it upside down from a beam by means of a piece of wood called a “bucket.” The dying animal would, naturally, “kick the bucket.” The other possible origin refers to a method of hanging oneself, which involved standing on a bucket, tightening the noose, and then kicking away the bucket. Since the phrase “kick the bucket” dates back to at least the 16th century, neither of these can definitively be called the “genuine” origin…
