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Dropping off

Posted by Robert Cummings on October 16, 2006

Can anyone confirm the origin of the phrase 'dropping off' as in dropping off to sleep. My understanding is that it comes from the day when travelling was done by coach and horses. 1st class passengers sat inside the coach but 2nd Class passengers sat on the roof of the coach. Due to the extremely long journey times, passengers on the roof would fall asleep and would often 'drop off' ie fall, from the coach.

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