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Death euphemisms in different languages

 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room Post Reply
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espejismo
Diglot
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 Message 1 of 28
22 June 2012 at 12:14am | IP Logged 
thread: Euphemisms like "kick the bucket" for death in other languages?

It may seem morbid of me, but I think some of them are funny.

This German one if my favorite: Die Radieschen von unten angucken - to watch the radish from below. A better life in the netherworld indeed...

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Michael K.
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 Message 2 of 28
22 June 2012 at 12:24am | IP Logged 
I remember a long time ago, someone made a similar thread, although I couldn't find it. They said they were inspired by Monty Python's dead parrot sketch.

One English expression I heard about a year ago was circling the drain. My instructor said it's usually used by medical personnel.
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Hampie
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 Message 3 of 28
22 June 2012 at 1:47am | IP Logged 
att gå hädan - to go hence
att trilla av pinn' - to fall of th' perch
att kasta in handuken - to trow in the towel
att somna in - to fall asleep
att kola vippen - unstanslateable

Bah, most of these are quite boring :/...


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Umin
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 Message 4 of 28
22 June 2012 at 3:24am | IP Logged 
German:
ins Gras beißen - to bite grass
das Zeitliche segnen - to bless your times (not sure if it's even possible to translate that one)
in die ewigen Jagdgründe eingehen - to go to the happy hunting grounds
über den Jordan gehen - to surpass Jordan (also used with other rivers, mostly the Wupper)
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hrhenry
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 Message 5 of 28
22 June 2012 at 3:39am | IP Logged 
I always liked "push up daisies". There's "six feet under", "become worm food", "the big
sleep", "take a dirt nap"... the list goes on.

These are all for physical burial, though. I don't know of any relating to cremation.

R.
==
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lecavaleur
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 Message 6 of 28
22 June 2012 at 7:44am | IP Logged 
French: Manger les pissenlits par la racine. (Lit. to eat dandelions by the root.)

Casser sa pipe. (To break one's pipe.)

S'éteindre. (To be extinguished.)

Two in English I like are "to kick the bucket" and "to buy the farm."

Edited by lecavaleur on 22 June 2012 at 7:48am

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pesahson
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 Message 7 of 28
22 June 2012 at 8:46am | IP Logged 
In Polish

Wąchać kwiatki od spodu - to smell the flowers from below

Kopnąć w kalendarz - to kick the calendar

Wyciągnąć nogi - to spread out your legs


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TixhiiDon
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 Message 8 of 28
22 June 2012 at 11:54am | IP Logged 
Japanese, unsurprisingly given Japanese people's love of indirectness, has lots of these. Two I can think of
offhand are 帰らぬ人となる (kaeranu bito to naru), which means "Become a person who will not return", and
この世を去る (kono yo wo saru), which means "Leave this world".


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