Timeline for The meaning of 'caught dead'
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
15 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 26, 2016 at 9:56 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackEnglish/status/780345165613559808 | ||
| Aug 17, 2016 at 8:46 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | The earliest recorded example is claimed to be found in a story published in 1915 by Rudyard Kipling, which contains the sentence: "'Wouldn't be found dead in Hilarity', was Winchmore's grateful reply." ( Hilarity here is probably the name of a club....). This argues for the cobaltduck analysis, whereas 'caught dead' argues more strongly for the surreal analysis (which is almost certainly now equally valid). | |
| Aug 17, 2016 at 7:05 | answer | added | JEL | timeline score: 2 | |
| Aug 16, 2016 at 17:17 | comment | added | L. Willmer | Interesting question! I've always thought about it in the first sense, i.e. that even if I were dead (and thus unable to argue) I would still oppose the activity. Have you thought about its connection to the phrase "over my dead body?" | |
| Aug 16, 2016 at 16:03 | history | edited | DyingIsFun | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Added cobaltduck's alternate speculative origin.
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| Aug 16, 2016 at 15:55 | comment | added | DyingIsFun | @cobaltduck, that's an interesting alternative to the "conceptual explanation" I gave. I'm going to edit it into the question. | |
| Aug 16, 2016 at 14:50 | comment | added | cobaltduck | Interesting. I've always interpreted the expression as meaning: Suppose I was somehow convinced to do X, but while doing it I had a heart attack or was struck by lightning, or... When my body is discovered, the evidence around me makes it clear I had been doing X at the time I died. I won't hear the derisive remarks, won't suffer the embarrassment, won't feel any of the repercussions. Yet that is how people will remember me, "Cobaltduck died while Xing." I do not want that to happen, therefore I will not X. | |
| Aug 16, 2016 at 14:29 | history | edited | DyingIsFun | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 1 character in body
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| Aug 16, 2016 at 14:24 | history | edited | DyingIsFun | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Edited the question substantially to make it more... well... substantive.
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| Aug 16, 2016 at 14:15 | review | Close votes | |||
| Aug 17, 2016 at 11:59 | |||||
| Aug 16, 2016 at 13:59 | comment | added | DyingIsFun | This is an interesting idiom and I'm curious to see a good answer explaining its origin. But you don't ask for its origin; you ask for its meaning, which can be found in many dictionaries. If you want to make this a good question, consider asking about its origin and how its contemporary meaning developed. Also, you might demonstrate some research or thought by linking to some etymology or giving your own speculative etymology of it. | |
| Aug 16, 2016 at 13:58 | comment | added | user66974 | Somebody would not be caught dead: - someone would never do or wear something - I wouldn't be caught dead doing ads for that company. My father wouldn't have been caught dead in a white suit. idioms.thefreedictionary.com/would+not+be+caught+dead | |
| Aug 16, 2016 at 13:55 | review | First posts | |||
| Aug 16, 2016 at 14:20 | |||||
| Aug 16, 2016 at 13:54 | comment | added | Ghotir | As a native (American) English speaker, I would explain it as "even if I were dead, you couldn't get me to do that" - which is obviously not literal. For instance, "I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a skirt": if you're dead, you really don't have any say in the matter (for your funeral). I don't have any links, which is why this is a comment, not an answer. | |
| Aug 16, 2016 at 13:51 | history | asked | Efialtes Manifestator | CC BY-SA 3.0 |