How "bucket list" came to mean a list of things a person would like to achieve before they die?
Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
That's an interesting question. It actually originates from another phrase entirely. "To kick the bucket" is a colloquial expression that means "to die", so a "bucket list" is a list of things to do before one "kicks the bucket". "Bucket list" was first used this way in the movie The Bucket List from 2007, and this is where we get the expression. There are two theories as to the origin of "kick the bucket": - the popular theory that it originates from someone committing suicide by hanging themselves while standing on a bucket and kicking it away. - the historical theory that it comes from an alternative meaning of "bucket" based on the French word "buque" (balance) to mean a wooden beam from which things may be hung. Pigs would be hung from such a beam or "bucket" in slaughterhouses and would kick while being slaughtered. Ex: I need to make a list of things to do before I kick the bucket. Ex: My bucket list is short, I just want to see a few places before I kick the bucket.
