Филологические науки / 3. Теоретические и методологические проблемы исследования языка

Rudevskiy A.O.

Innovative University of Eurasia, the Republic of Kazakhstan

Slang Idioms for Dying

If we think of death as one of the rare things nobody has so far been able to avoid, we might wonder why the subject has become something of a taboo in almost all cultures. We have pushed the idea of death somewhere toward the back of our minds, and most of us feel very uncomfortable when forced to confront it, even in conversation.

In many situations, the verb die seems too blunt, or perhaps too serious. Therefore the English language has developed a variety of expressions which can be used to replace this awkward word, ranging from religious-minded euphemisms to slang words, some of which are undoubtedly regarded as irreverent in standard language.

This article will deal mainly with the slang equivalents, attempting to characterize and also categorize these expressions. We have found more than 70 slang idioms in the following dictionaries: ‘The Oxford Dictionary of idioms’ (2004), ‘NTC’s Thematic Dictionary of Modern American Slang’ (1998), ‘The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English’ (2009). Many of these slang idioms are results of a kind of semantic shift. They have existed in the language for a long time but have had a quite different meaning. The semantic shift has, in some cases, been so complete that the original sense has to be found in etymological dictionaries. But more often the old concrete meaning and the new figurative one coexist in the language, and it is the context that determines the interpretation. Among the ones whose origins are either not known at all, or are far from obvious, are idioms like: buy the farm, buy the ranch, buy it, drop the cue, kick the bucket, go for a burton, go for one's tea, go to the races, eat it, have it, hop the twig, come to a sticky end, turn one's face to the wall, go down the tube, slip / cut one's cable, snuff it.

In many idioms dying is seen as a change of place, both physically and spiritually. Religious euphemisms include pass away, go to meet one's maker and go to kingdom come. The less pious slang expressions talk about going west, going north, going across the creek, getting a one-way ticket, and heading for the hearse. The finality of death, however, comes across in many idioms - the word last is present in many of them: take the last count, head for the last round-up, jump the last hurdle, answer the last roll-call, make the last muster.

Some of the idioms convey the idea of giving up, perhaps due to tiredness or old age. In these, death is not seen as a violent threat to life; rather it is accepted as the final stage in the circle of life: put one's checks in the rack, hand in one's dinner-pail, quit the scene, call it a day, call it quits, quit it, give up the ship, pass in one's checks, hang up one's hat, hang up one's harness, lay down one's knife and fork, throw in the sponge.

One interesting detail of slang is the significant use of gambling vocabulary in connection with death. We can talk about someone throwing in one's cards, or throwing in one's hand. Further, there are the expressions cash in / pass in / hand in one's chips and call off all bets.

For the most part the slang expressions for dying could be called euphemistic. They want to present the unpleasant fact as softly as possible. But in contrast with more solemn ways of going around the word die, the slang alternatives usually contain humorous undertones. Even the few slang expressions that deal with the actual moment of death are rather gentle: curl up one's toes and die, turn up one's toes, up and die and go belly up.

One of the features that render slang idioms 'euphemistic' is the tendency to avoid expressions that are too explicit. Preference is for more subtle idioms, for example: pop one's clogs, drop off the twig, step off the deep end and snuff out like a candle. As there is an exception to every rule, there is also one to this: a special group of idioms consisting of expressions which describe (some of them quite graphically) the state of the body after it has been buried: be grounded for good, push up daisies, strike bedrock, deep six, take a dirt nap, feed the worms.

Some of these are quite commonly used but they can only refer to someone who has been dead for some time.

Some phrasal verbs have a double meaning: as well as being synonyms for dying, they can mean the same as to fall asleep, to faint, or to stop functioning. Usually these idioms are the results of the already mentioned semantic shift where the connection between the original meaning and the new slang meaning has remained relatively clear. Miscellaneous other phrasal expressions include check in, kick in, shove over and keel over.

Slang is often regarded as one of the registers or sublanguages of English. But slang itself can be divided into a complex set of varying styles. The vocabulary changes so rapidly that some expressions disappear before they have been 'officially' recognized, and others can turn from trendy to old-fashioned in an incredibly short period of time. The idioms range from vulgar street language to humorous everyday expressions, most of which are nowadays socially acceptable in all but the most formal situations. In general, the abundance of idioms concerning dying and death proves that the subject is one which necessarily comes up in conversation quite often, but which always has to be formulated according to the context.