Another unusual saying - popping your clogs
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (357184)
Rockingham, Australia
March 9, 2025 8:17am CST
On Antiques Roadshow, one lady was asked what would happen to her pieces of jewellery. She said they’d go to her daughter when she ‘popped her clogs’ meaning when she died.
What an unusual saying. I hadn’t heard it in years. I googled it but it seems the origin is unknown or at best just a guess. You hear ‘popping off’ from time to time in the sense of going off to do something.
14 people like this
11 responses
@JudyEv (357184)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Mar
Maybe it has never left England although I think I've heard it before.
@wolfgirl569 (118480)
• Marion, Ohio
9 Mar
That is different. I thought getting angry when I first read it.
2 people like this
@Ronrybs (20781)
• London, England
9 Mar
I guess it must have something to with clogs. There was a time when they were common footwear in the Midlands of the UK. I feel sure that is where the expression clogging up the works comes from when disaffected workers threw their clogs into the machinery
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@JudyEv (357184)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Mar
I was well and truly an adult before I knew that clogs were worn in parts of the UK. I hadn't connected it with 'clogging up pthe works'. In a caravan park in France but run by an ex-Dutchman, clogs were the decorative feature around the place.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (148581)
• India
10 Mar
One more saying added to my list of countless sayings
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (76195)
• United States
9 Mar
All, British/Australian colloquialisms. Not that American ones are any better….
I looked it up, too…seems they tamed it down some from “eternal rest” to just “get some rest.”
I looked it up, too…seems they tamed it down some from “eternal rest” to just “get some rest.”1 person likes this
@JudyEv (357184)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Mar
I see @DaddyEvil has heard of it but I don't any other American has.
And 'bl**dy' apparently was scaled down from 'by our Lady'.
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@DaddyEvil (152154)
• United States
9 Mar
I've heard that saying before but not since I was a teenager.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (152154)
• United States
13 Mar
@JudyEv I wonder if I've heard it before because my parents were both older? Or if I've "heard" it before because I read so much? I honestly couldn't tell you which is correct.
I did and still do read a lot of books by British authors.
1 person likes this
@RevivedWarrior (3718)
• India
12 Mar
"Pop your clogs" seems to be such a quirky and old-fashioned phrase! Definitely has that classic British charm. I am not sure if I heard about it earlier. It is funny how some expressions stick around while others fade into memory. The idea of “popping off” meaning to leave makes sense, perhaps that’s how it evolved. I love how language preserves little bits of history, even when the exact origins are sometimes a mystery. It makes me wonder what every day phrases we use now would be like in a hundred years. It is a nice reminder of how unpredictable language can be! Enjoy the day!
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