Coral

Posted by ESC on April 08, 2000

In Reply to: To die with corals in their hands posted by jon ackroyd on April 08, 2000

: Can any help with the origin and explanation of this term please?

: I've searched the Web periodically over the past couple of years for this but not found a definitive explanation.

: TIA

: jon

To die with corals in their hands -- I'm not familiar with that phrase and couldn't find it in my reference books. What is the context?

All I found was: "coral. Depressant." in "The Drug Trade" chapter of "Slang" by Paul Dickson (Pocket Books, New York, 1990, 1998) and "coral sandwich n. Surfing. An instance of being thrown from a surfboard face-first onto a reef, a beach, or into the shallows. Joc. 1981 in Safire 'Good Word' 111: You bounced off the bottom and had a coral sandwich." In Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume 1, A-G by J.E. Lighter (Random House, New York, 1994).