Re: Common World Idioms

Staving Roger Mills:
>Christophe wrote:
> >I
>still couldn't imagine what logic would make it possible to guess this
>meaning from such an idiom as "red handed".
>
>Probably, as I think someone has already said, with blood on one's
>hands......
>
> >Another idiom that mystified me for years was "to kick the bucket". I only
>learned the meaning of this idiom a year ago, after more than 10 years of
>English classes...
>
>Don't recall ever hearing about its origin-- must google! It's very old;
>oddly, I've always associated it with cows kicking over the bucket while
>being milked, but don't see what that has to do with dying.  On Apr. 12,
>1945, my little 9yr old cousin came running home from school and shocked his
>mother by saying "Guess who just kicked the bucket!?" (A:  President
>Roosevelt)
In ðe Middle Ages, ðere was a custom hwereby a bucket of Holy Water was
placed at ðe corpse hisfeet during ðe funeral. As ðe mourners came in, ðey
would take some water from ðe bucket and sprinkle it over ðe deceased. As
ðe deceased lay wið his feet to ðe bucket, he was said tohave kicked it.

Pete