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"you gave away the farm"

Posted by ESC on July 09, 2005

In Reply to: "You gave away the farm" posted by Ceilia on July 09, 2005

:
: question: Is there a phrase that says "you gave away the farm" and if so, what does it mean?

It's vaguely familiar. I am guessing that it means: you gave away everything.

(Another farm phrase -- bought the farm. Previous discussion:

In the Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins there is a long passage on "bought the farm." Paraphrasing here, one idea was that when a soldier was killed in action, it was said he "bought the farm." That is, the soldier was at peace, on a heavenly version of the farm he had often daydreamed about buying when he got back home.

The other suggested origin was along the same lines. But the phrase "Well, he's bought his farm," was a wry comment on the dead soldier not getting a chance to realize his dream.)

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