Bucket list

[Deleted]

Obviously I could look it up, but I would very much prefer it if someone explained to me the origin of this expression.

It apparently refers to important things, but the term does not make it sound important at all.

[htmb]

I had been thinking the same thing, but actually looked it up. I don't really have a personal bucket list, so I will defer to someone else to explain the term.

[Deleted]

You are so helpful, retaining important information.

[lugg]

For me it is a term that describes the things I would like to do/ see

There are umpteen different explanations of the origins which links to the phrase "Kicking the bucket" -all relate to death I think.

I do have several bucket lists - short , medium and long term goals. Of course I ignore the implications of the " before kicking the bucket ")

[Kimby]

I first heard the term when the movie of the same name came out. It definitely has to do with things you want to do/see/accomplish before you die.

The trick is to get started on the list while you are still young and strong enough to do those things.

[lagatta]

Or when you really want to do them. Often as people get older, even if they are in reasonably good health, I think they are content with more modest goals.

I'm thinking of this sadly now, as an "ex-aunt" only a couple of years older than I am is dying. She was the much younger wife of my mum's much younger brother (who was almost my older brother, as actual older brother was unsatisfactory to put it very mildly). They split up, not out of lack of love, but because she thought he was putting his (socially-conscious) work ahead of their couple. They are still close though, and my cousins are close to her, especially since their birth mum has also died not long ago.

I have no idea whether she thinks she has achieved her dreams, although she has a very nice flat here (which I imagine her son will inherit, along with her two cats).

[Deleted]

I finally looked it up and apparently it is linked to kicking the bucket.

[questa]

So...what things are on your bucket lists?

A group of my friends and I discussed our bucket lists about 4 years ago. We were all in our late sixties so decided we had better get on with it!

Since then I have taken 3 travels off the list...Morocco, Iran and Sri Lanka.

Trouble is, I keep adding more things to my list...

[Deleted]

Check out the KICK THE BUCKET thread.

[mossie]

I do wish you people would stop all these references to "kicking the bucket". I'm off first thing in the morning for me pre op assessment in preparation for my forthcoming new hip.
I have to say when I first saw the thread title the term "basket case" immediately came to mind.

[Kimby]

Basket case is one I hadn't previously considered the origin of...

[lagatta]

I knew it alas. A poor soul in the trenches in the First World War who had both his arms and legs blown off and had to be carried around in a kind of basket (until he died, which perhaps mercifully didn't usually take very long).

[Deleted]

I am a bit annoyed at how people misread my original question. When I ask about the "origin" of a term, it doesn't mean that I don't know what the expression means. (OnlyMark was particularly guilty of this in the past.)

Lagatta, I had read that somewhere in the past, but I had completely forgotten the grim origin of this expression. Frankly, I always think of the 1982 unforgettable movie of the same name.



Okay, I know that anybody who missed this movie will never see it, so the thing in the basket is the deformed extrusion of the Siamese twin brother of the "hero."

[lagatta]

There was also a book, "Johnny Get Your Gun" about one of these unfortunates in a military hospital. I read the book, but never saw the movie - probably it involves a lot of flashbacks to his short and happy life as a boy and young man before the trenches.

I did see "La Vie et rien d'autre" by Tavernier. Here is a short review in English: allaboutwarmovies.com/2011/09/17/bertrand-taverniers-la-vie-et-rien-dautre-aka-life-and-nothing-but-1989-the-aftermath-of-wwi/

The military has given rise to countless expressions in many languages. Sport as well, and obviously, work - all trades and professions, agriculture, fishing...