Janice wrote: < pop one's clogs before 1977 (assumes pop means to pawn)
I know "pop" was used for pawning things but I always thought this expression meant that the person had died.>
Yes, it does, but what the OED is trying to do is to find out where and when these expressions actually started. 'Pop' means 'to pawn' - I believe it had the same meaning in "pop goes the weasel" which refers to pawning either a dometic or tailor's flat iron or a "weasel and stoat", rhyming slang for coat (just two suggestions as to what a weasel is).
Often when things were 'popped' (ie handed in at the pawnbroker for money with the intention of later retrieving it when you had enough money to pay the pawnbroker what you'd borrowed plus interest) the person knew he/she could never afford to retrieve the item, or knew they would have no more use for it, so wouldn't need to find the money to retrieve it. Clogs were footwear with studded soles worn by both men and women in parts of the north of England, and it's thought people pawned the clogs when they knew they were going to die and would have no further use for them - they'd get a better price by pawning than by selling.
But, the expression doesn't seem to be known before the 1970s, when both the wearing of clogs and pawning items wasn't very common.
Jean in Poole To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
