Where does the term “kicking the bucket” come from?
Pigs to be slaughtered are bled, that is the blood is drained from the body. One way this is accomplished is to hang the pig upside down from a bar (by one foot) that used to be known as a “buchet,” a French word for it. The pig’s throat was cut or opened with a sharp spike (See “bleed like a stuck pig”), and it would rapidly be bled. In its death throes, it would always, always kick the buchet. Alternatively, Refers to an inverted bucket that a person who is being hung might stand on. When the bucket is kicked out, the person is hung and dies. http://members.aol.com/MorelandC/HaveOrigins.
