The Bucket List

“Could you please tell me where the phrase kick the bucket originated?”
[A] There are two main theories about this one. One suggests that the word doesn’t refer to our modern bucket at all, but to a sixteenth century word that comes from the French buque, meaning a yoke or similar piece of wood. It is said that the word was applied in particular to the beam from which a pig was hung in order to be slaughtered. Inevitably, the pig would struggle during the process, and would kick the buque.

The expression is attested to in particular by a citation in the Oxford English Dictionary: “The beam on which a pig is suspended after he has been slaughtered is called in Norfolk, even in the present day, a ‘bucket’. Since he is suspended by his heels, the phrase to ‘kick the bucket’ came to signify to die” (I can’t give you a date, as the editors just say it comes from a “modern newspaper”, a rather sniffy annotation they used a century ago for sources not considered quite kosher. But it was probably in the 1890s).

The other explanation, much less credible, is that the bucket is the one on which a suicide stands when hanging himself — kick away the bucket and the job is done. I’ve even seen the story attached specifically to the sad end of an ostler working at an inn on the Great North Road out of London. Don’t believe a word of it. I got this from

here.

There's a movie coming out soon called "The Bucket List" starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The "bucket list" is a list of all the things their characters would like to accomplish in their remaining months (before they kick the bucket) and with one's wealth, the two end up touring the world, skydiving and racecar driving. As their list of goals begins to come to an end, they realize how much they've truly lived just in the last few months alone, and how much their short friendship has impacted their lives. Read more about the movie here. Sounds like it'll be a fun and crazy movie but most of all, it has prompted me to think about what I'd put on my list. I had to really think hard and wanted to share my top 10:

Tour the coast of Wales in the summertime.
Finish the renovations in my house.
See my book published successfully.
Go on a safari in Africa.
Go by ship to Australia and New Zealand.
Reach 10 lbs below my goal weight and stay there.
Go sailing and canoeing.
Ride in a helicopter.
Drive Route 66 in the USA.
Live long enough to have and know my great grandchildren.

One thing I thought would be awfully nice would be to meet and marry a wonderful man who would give me the freedom to live as I dream, who would be with me when I wanted him to be and to leave me alone when I wanted him to. I didn't put it on the list, though, because I think it's more of a pipe dream. ;D Have you ever thought about what you'd like to accomplish before you "kick the bucket?" Feel free to share right here. Maybe you'll give me some more ideas and I can add to my list.