What are the origins of the saying "to pop your clogs"?

Possibly to pawn one's clogs. As clogs were once essential, this would only be done if one had no further need of them - if one was dead.





The word 'pop', meaning to 'pawn', is an integral part of the Victorian song 'Pop goes the weasel', where a 'weasel' is thought to be a tradesman's specialised tool. The above suggested origin for 'pop your clogs' rings very true to me.

What are the origins of the saying "to pop your clogs"?
When you go into the cremation fire your clogs stat spittin like logs hence! poppin
Reply:Pop as referred to in the song 'Pop goes the weasel' refers to pawning property. Therefore it seems that the deceased belongings were popped or pawned possibly to cover the cost of burial, have a wake etc. hence they 'popped their clogs'.
Reply:i used to go out with a dutch girl who wore inflatable shoes, untill she popped her clogs.......lol
Reply:It is English slang meaning to die. As far as I can see it only originates from the 1970s





The verb 'to pop' here is pretty certainly the old term for pawning


goods. Clogs were the traditional workers' footwear in several


trades in the industrial towns and cities of midlands and northern


Britain, for women as well as men, now rarely seen but at one time


almost an icon of working class life. The sound of workers' clogs


on cobbled streets at the end of a shift has been likened to


thunder. The implication is that someone would only want to pawn


his clogs when he had no further need for them, that is, when he


was about to die.





But, as I say, it seems to be pseudo-archaic form, unrecorded fromtimes when workers did usually wear clogs to work and did often pawn small items each week to tide them over cash shortages. It belongs in that large group of euphemisms for dying that includes 'kick the bucket' and 'buy the farm'. But the difference is that it appeared without any link to its ostensible origins.



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