Does anyone know where the expression "Pop their clogs" comes from, when someone dies.?

Well, it certainly means to die, but this is the derivation for it.


The expression %26#039;pop%26#039; was slang for pawn. If you popped something you took it to the pawn shop.


You absolutely had to have your clogs if you were going to be able to work and earn money. So the last thing you would ever pawn would be your clogs.


Hence, to pop your clogs - to die.

Does anyone know where the expression %26quot;Pop their clogs%26quot; comes from, when someone dies.?
When someone pops their clogs it means they die.
Reply:. A lot of my older relatives started their working life in textile mills and I guess it is a saying coined in the mills of the North of England


the expression is %26#039;cock%26#039;, not %26#039;pop%26#039;, one%26#039;s clogs. I suppose later generations, not working in mills nor wearing clogs, couldn%26#039;t understand the wording in the original expression and substituted %26#039;pop%26#039; for %26#039;cock%26#039; perhaps because the former has some connection with dying or killing in American slang. A similar process has seen %26#039;Parthian shot%26#039; evolve into %26#039;parting shot%26#039;.





To %26#039;cock your clogs%26#039; simply means to die. You keel over in the factory or mill, and everything about you is then horizontal except your clogs which are sticking up or %26#039;******%26#039;, perhaps like the hammer of a firearm.



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