American Civil War Death Euphemisms...?

[Private Watkins]

Apologies for the morbid topic, but was just thinking that I'm familiar enough with many of the death euphemisms originating from or typically associated with twentieth century wars (e.g. WWI "Gone West"; WWII "Check Out/Bite the Dust"; Korea "Buy the Farm"; Vietnam "Wasted/Greased"), but not so much with the American Civil War... the only one I could think of was "Mustered Out"...

Would any of you out there know of more such death euphemisms originating from or strongly associated with the Civil War...?

 

[Private Watkins]

How about this one...?

"Gone up the Flume"... as in "Ole Bill's done gone up the flume..." or "he's a goner..."
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Looking for more if anyone has another...

 

[Albert Sailhorst]

A corpse would sometimes be referred to as "Somebody's Darlin'".

 

[Rebel_Giratina]

Did "kick the bucket" date back from that era? Certainly sounds like something from the era....

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

What a great question! Huh. It's the Victorians we're discussing, too so you'd have to think there's around a gazillion terms, all of them inventive. On the other hand really dislike these questions because now will be distracted until digging up answers. Rats. Shovel around here somewhere.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Found a description in an obit, they couldn't say the man died, it was ' He fell to the floor, a corpse... '. Not exactly another word for death, just seemed someone was looking for one. ' Fell to the floor, a corpse '. Oh dear.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Oh! Here's one. " Stuck his spoon in the wall ." It's 1800's, not sure if it was heard in the war? Heard it in old books of the era but British books.

 

[nitrofd]

Oh! Here's one. " Stuck his spoon in the wall ." It's 1800's, not sure if it was heard in the war? Heard it in old books of the era but British books.

I had to Google "stuck his spoon in the wall" to find where that came from and the meaning and found some really strange expressions...wow.this seems to mean that the person no longer needs their rations so they pass there spoon along or stick it in the wall.
I found an article in a British journal that lists strange expressions from all over the world.in Africa they say "stuck their spoon in the ceiling" but the funniest one that I liked was from Hungary and it is this:
"He is smelling the violets from the bottom."

 

[FarawayFriend]

the funniest one that I liked was from Hungary and it is this:
"He is smelling the violets from the bottom

Well, here we say "he is viewing the red radish from the bottom" and that spoon thing (he is passing his spoon) is very popular too. Another one is "he sneezed in the bag", which sounds as if it is pretty old, too.

 

[alexjack]

I believe I read somewhere that " Buy the Farm " originated in the Civil War.

 

[nitrofd]

I believe I read somewhere that " Buy the Farm " originated in the Civil War.

Buy the from refers to someone who died in the military or by accident.its origin is from the 20th century around 1955.that's what word etomolgy says.

 

[LoyaltyOfDogs]

"He is smelling the violets from the bottom."

This reminds me of a phrase I recall from childhood, when I probably heard it in old cowboy movies: "He's pushing up daisies." Where did that come from? Civil War? Old West? Hollywood?

 

[nitrofd]

This reminds me of a phrase I recall from childhood, when I probably heard it in old cowboy movies: "He's pushing up daisies." Where did that come from? Civil War? Old West? Hollywood?

Pushing up daisey,'s became common usage during the Civil War but it actually comes from a poem by Keats in 1821 where he wrote "the daisey's are growing over me".

 

[FarawayFriend]

Pushing up daisey,'s became common usage during the Civil War but it actually comes from a poem by Keats in 1821 where he wrote "the daisey's are growing over me".

Interestingly if you look for a translation for our red radish saying, the online dictionary comes up with "pushing the daisies".

Oh, and another one is "he jumped in the box". The box of course is the coffin.

As for the Civil War era, the other day in one of the Stonewall Jackson threads someone said that "passing over the river" (being part of the last words of Stonewall Jackson) probably was an euphemism for dying.

 

[nitrofd]

Interestingly if you look for a translation for our red radish saying, the online dictionary comes up with "pushing the daisies".

That is interesting.how does a vegetable become a flower?

 

[FarawayFriend]

That is interesting.how does a vegetable become a flower?

I think it is an idiomatic translation. We have this one, the English language has the other ... it's not a word-by-word translation but one which preserves the meaning. The original German saying is "die Radieschen von unten angucken".

 

[nitrofd]

While doing the Google search I came across a lot of idioms for meaning death but the one I really liked was in reference to insurance companies which do not like to refer that one of their policy had passed.the call it
He is now Post-Retirement.

 

[BelleBlackburn]

Passed into the arms of his savior.

 

[Waterloo50]

Bite the Dust or Done for, could be the sort of thing said during the Civil war but I quite like, 'Went into the fertilising business' or Joined the choir invisible '.

 

[Banjo Pete]

The French have a phrase which translates as "eating the dandelions by their roots"....