Croaked

"Croaked" has been thought to refer to the sound of the dying person's last ditch efforts to breathe. It is a dysphemism rather than a euphemism. read about the difference here. 

Just after my eighteenth birthday, I was cruising through Woolworth’s Five and Dime store with my friend Rosaleen when the top button of my kilt popped off.  Using my left hand to keep the two flaps of fabric together, Rosie and I searched the sewing section looking for safety pins. While she kept watch, I unhooked one of the large size pins from its pack. It took a while because I was trying to keep my skirt up at the same time. I looked up to see a red faced store clerk barreling toward us. Pointing her finger in my face she snarled, “What would you mother say if she knew you were stealing from us?

“I don’t know, I stammered. She just croaked.” Looking horrified, the clerk drew back, opened and closed her mouth without speaking and walked away. Why did I say it that way? My mother had died only a few weeks before. Her death wasn't real to me yet and I couldn't bear it to be. I didn't have a clue how to be in the world without her.

Thus was my introduction to euphemisms for dying, an interest which surfaced many years later as the theme of this ongoing monotype series, Biting the Dust.

Taking an Earth Bath

This euphemism refers to being buried.  See A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English. It is interesting to note that birds, elephants and other animals often take earth baths as a grooming ritual.

Riding the Pale Horse

This reference to dying is based on chapter six in the Book of Revelation. Death, one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, rides a pale horse.

Slip the Surly Bonds of Earth (and Sail Away)

This is a lyric from Emmy Lou Harris's song Darlin' Kate written in honor of the late Kate McGarrigle for the CD Hard Bargain

Circling the Drain

I heard this euphemism uttered by one of the doctors in the TV show Gray's Anatomy about the impending demise of a patient. Circle the Drain is also a song by Katy Perry and featured as a refrain in the lyrics of the song: 

Wanna be your lover, not your fucking motherCan't be your savior, I don't have the powerI'm not gonna stay and watch you circle the drainWatch you circle the drain, watch you circle the drain

Digging his Way to a Hole in the Ground

This idiom was created by Matt Keating, singer/songwriter and can be found in the song Wish I was Gold from his CD Summer Tonight.

Smelling the Flowers from Underground

I found this euphemism in a quote by Israeli photographer Dani Shimoni: "When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait for my chance to be a soldier. It’s crazy, it’s a sickness...but back then I thought that was the only way to survive here...Most people would rather go to war than give back land. But I don’t believe in the land, I believe in life. I have a lot of friends who are smelling the flowers from underground."

Avaler son Acte de Naissance

This French euphemism translates to English as "to swallow his or her birth certificate."

Belly-Up

This figure of speech stems from the position a fish takes when it expires. According to Merriam Webster, its first known use was 1918. It is a phrase often used to describe a business or other financial venture that failed.

den Löffel abgeben

This German idiom means to throw, give up, turn in or hand over the spoon... since eating is a non-issue when your time has come!

Tirare il Calzino

This Italian phrase for dying means "to pull the sock".  As I was creating the person doing the pulling, another figure began to emerge.

Shuffling Off This Mortal Coil

This phrase for dying is from Shakespeare, spoken by Hamlet in the famous To Be, or Not to Be soliloquy. The exact quote is:
To sleep, perchance to Dream; Aye, there's the rub, 
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come, 
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 
Must give us pause. 
In style this piece pays homage to the British artist Francis Bacon.

Turning Down the Glass

There are a number of euphemisms like "turning down the glass" in which dying and death are associated with no longer being able to eat or drink  "Turning over an empty glass" at a meal is a way to honor a friend or relative who has died. This phrase appears in The Rubayyat of Omar Khayyam in this regard.

Dropping Off the Perch

This idiom for dying generally refers to a natural or unassisted death. I first heard it from an elderly British woman who was describing the death of a friend. In The Collected Works of Thomas De Quincey, there is an anecdote by one of his biographers about De Quincey's use of this dysphemism. While attempting to give condolences to a German woman in her native language, De Quincey inadvertently used a German dictionary which only provided slang translations for the verb "to die", including " to drop off the perch into Davy's locker."

Kicking the Calendar

This is a Polish idiom: kopnąć w kalendarz. 

Heading to the Boneyard

I  heard this phrase in the Terrence Malick film Days of Heaven. In common usage, it often refers to aircraft, cars and animals that have become obsolete or extinct.

Chola Badalna

This is a Hindu phrase. Chola means clothing and badalna changing. It refers to the letting go of one's body and ego identity at death, with the understanding that though you will be reborn, in new clothes, so to speak, your Self or soul is undying, eternal. The image I chose for this euphemism provides a humorous perspective on the idea of dropping an old identity for a new one.

Taking the Long Dirt Nap

This euphemism has associations to movies and mobsters. Andy Garcia used this phrase in the movie, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead. Mobsters threatened this fate as punishment for crossing them
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Winking Out

Winking out, monotype, 22" x30"

"Winking out" can mean to space out temporarily, but it also refers to the more permanent disappearance of death. Easy to associate with the twinkle or blink of the stars, the phrase was used in a first season episode of Star Trek (1967) to describe a disappearing galaxy. "Winking out" is also used by biologists to describe a species that is becoming extinct.

Casser Sa Pipe

The French euphemism equivalent  to "biting the dust"  means "to break his pipe." Thought to have originated in the late eighteenth century, it has been linked to the practice of treating wounded soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars by placing a clay pipe in their mouth to prevent screaming during amputations. If the patient faints or dies, the pipe drops/breaks. This phrase has also been associated with the death of Moliere, who died onstage while holding a pipe between his teeth. Neither link has been substantiated. The image that my mind conjured up when I heard this phrase was a more pro-active one, a recognition of the ending of earthly attachments.

  

Casser Sa Pipe

Had the Radish

This euphemism comes from New England and usually refers to someone or something which has completely worn out.

Hopping the Twig

"Hopping the Twig" has a very different meaning than the similar idiom, "jumping the broom" which is a reference to marriage and  wedding rituals from various cultures. It seems to be a variant of "dropping off the perch." It was first used as early as 1797: in the book, Walsingham; or the Pupil of Nature by Mary Robinson. 

Pushing Up Daisies

Here are two versions of "Pushing Up Daisies." According to the Wordsworth Book of Euphemisms, the original phrase, circa mid- nineteenth century, was "to turn one's toes to the daisies." In this first one, I have added pastel and pencil markings.


A word about my process: I apply one or more background colors via a roller, using oil-based etching or linoblock inks onto a plexiglass plate. (I am in the process of switching to water-based inks.) I work on top of the rolled colors with brushes and turpentine washes, as if I were working wet on wet on a canvas. When I 'm finished, I place the paper on top of the plate (usually BFK Rives) and apply pressure using a baren to transfer the image. Once the print has dried I may add pencil, oil pastel, pastel and/or collage elements to further enhance the piece.

Pushing Up Daisies 2

Unlike most other forms of printmaking where colors are added one by one, the process demands that you create the entire print in one shot, as one might choose to do when painting. For me, this mirrors life. I am usually quite satisfied with the image while it is still on the plate, just as many of my ideas and plans seem perfectly conceived while still in my mind. In transferring the image to paper, there are surprising changes. The most carefully rendered areas fall short of my expectations and a "mistake" often turns out to be a happy accident.

Biting the Dust

This is the first piece I made in my ongoing series of monotypes Biting the Dust: The Euphemism Series. I began these prints about 20 years ago, when I was working in a residence for people with AIDS. I was awed by the courage and composure of the residents, and struck by the mystery of the process of dying. To the witness, it looks like a difficult and painful experience, but is it as it appears to be? Or is it, as Walt Whitman wrote "different from what anyone supposes."  I discovered that euphemisms for dying exist in many languages. I love the active quality of the verbs in such euphemisms as kicking the bucket, giving up the ghost and pushing up daisies and the vivid imagery they suggest.

Kicking the Bucket

The historical origins of this euphemism, "kicking the bucket" are somewhat gruesome, referring to the death throes of slaughterhouse animals and/or suicide victims. Yet in this piece, I suggest that the release from life, from the confines of the body, is experienced as an act of willing surrender.