SHAGGY DOGS:TO NIP something in the budis to deal with a problem in the early stages in order to prevent an escalation, writes Albert Jack.
All of those who don their wellingtons of a weekend afternoon in spring will confirm they are not worried about snipping brand new shoots or buds from a developing plant, as this pruning encourages stronger growth of the main stems and will result in healthier flowers and fruit in the long run. However, the use of idiom has changed slightly over the years to suggest stopping "unhealthy" growth rather than encouraging healthy development.
The expression has been around for 500 years or so, and if it had been made clearer from the outset, hundreds of schoolboys would not have been in trouble for pruning a prized plant at around an inch from the ground when asked merely to nip it in the bud.
To have bought the farmis a well-known American expression meaning "to have died". There are several suggested origins, one being a sentimental line in a US war film, which has a character from the midwest yearning for home and telling friends that when the war is over he plans to return to the country, buy a farm and settle down. When the character is later killed in action, his buddy sentimentally remarks: "Well, I guess Joe has bought the farm now."
The popularity of the film at the time ensured the phrase passed over into wider use in the States, especially during the Korean War, when it was suggested fallen comrades had "bought the farm". The second suggested, and more likely, origin leads us to the early days of aviation when the great pioneers were invariably rich playboys, such as Gordon Bennett, who were living life on the edge of danger. If and when aircraft crashed on to farms or remote farmland, the estate of the deceased pilot would be held responsible for any damage and was invariably forced to pay substantial costs. Such payments would usually be enough for the farmer to redeem a mortgage or to buy a farm outright. Dead aviators were thus often known to have paid for or "bought the farm".
There is another possibility, however. During the second World War, US servicemen were all given life insurance policies worth $10,000 - a great deal of money in the 1940s. Most young and unmarried servicemen named their parents as beneficiaries, and those killed in action could be known to have "bought the farm". The expression, often shortened to bought it, is not used as frequently in England, where the alternatives are kicked the bucket and gone for a burton.
Finally, some believe the phrase has a religious origin, on the basis that the Old Testament refers to heaven as "a farm for the old soul". A person killed, especially in the service of the good Lord, had a place in heaven, hence "bought the farm". Like I say, some believe it, but I'm not one of them.
• Extracted from Shaggy Dogs and Black Sheepby Albert Jack (Penguin Books)