Vocaboly.com

[May L.]

I used to believe that "going west" could mean "dying". But one of these days I used the expression talking to some English-speaking people, and they simply didn't understand me. Is this expression so old-fashioned? Or has it ever existed at all?
Those people were Americans - maybe, this expression is strictly UK English?

Thank you in advance.

[May L.]

Ladies and gentlemen!
I thought that my question was quite straightforward, but... not a single answer! Is the question more difficult than it seemed to me, I wonder, or have I unwittingly broken some code of conduct, which makes everyone reluctant to answer? If the latter is true, I assure you it was unintentional and absolutely not my wish.

Even if my English seems rather funny, I am deeply interested in this beautiful language and I wish its scholars every possible success.

As for the expression, 'to go west', I found it at last in the Concise Oxford Dictionary. Still, it seems rather curious that it is not known in the USA.

Besides, it would be interesting to know its origin. Is it anything to do with the westering Sun, or with the dangers of an ocean voyage?

May L.

[Laobali]

A Google search on "english idiom going west" brought up quite a few sites. Try this one. You were right about the sun, I think!

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sou1.htm

[May L.]

Thank you very much, Laobali!
That link has been most interesting. Also the new modification, 'to go South', is something I haven't met before.
May L.

[Laobali]

You are welcome, May L.

Have you come across "kicked the bucket" or "hung up his clogs"?
There are many irreverent ways of referring to someone's demise (death).
Many of these odd expressions are used only in certain regions of the UK and some will not be recognised by younger generations who no doubt create new ones! Language is never static.

You can find lots of similar sites by searching with keywords like "english idiom expression".

Good luck!

Laobali

PS "et al" is Latin but is used to mean "and other (things)"

[May L.]

Yes, I know the idiom "kick the bucket" (but not "hang up one's clogs", that one is new to me). Just recently I saw it represented visually in the film "It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world". But is "to go west" irreverent? I didn't think it was.

In my own language there is a great lot of similar idioms, especially modern ones.

And thank you once again for the tip about Google searching. Without the addition of "English idiom" it gives such a terrifying amount of material...

[kp]

[May L.]

Thank you for the comment, kp!
But I was speaking about South as associated with death or permanent harm. As for North/South meaning upper part/lower part, I think I've met such usage before. 'So for a week Christopher Robin read that kind of book at the North end of Pooh, and Rabbit hung his washing on the South end..." It's most likely that here North end means the upper part of Pooh with the head and ears to listen to the book, and the South end refers to his lower part with the legs to hang washing on.