DEAD HORSE

[B.C. MALLAM]

I know it is an advance on pay but where did the term "dead horse" come
from?


--
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[a425couple]

"B.C. MALLAM" > wrote
> I know it is an advance on pay but where did the term
> "dead horse" come from?

Maybe in your 'group', it's "an advance on pay"
but think for most it's --

Many years ago in my callow youth, I wanted to
buy a nicer car, my mother loaned me some money
needed, and I set about paying her back while
driving same. Car got wrecked. I finished paying
her back - truly paid for the "Dead Horse"power.

And tend to believe the origin was also from a
person paying the debt incurred (thou what it
was incurred for was no longer viable).

So in your example, advance on pay used for
leave, leave was fun, nothing tangible left, now
time to settle up accounts.

[Bill Kambic]

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:50:10 -0600, "B.C. MALLAM" >
wrote:

>I know it is an advance on pay but where did the term "dead horse" come
>from?

Here's one explanation:

British seamen were often ashore for significant periods between
voyages. They tended to live in boarding houses near the docks as
they sought a berth. Often they ran out of money and the innkeepers
carried them on credit. When they got a berth the ship owner would
advance a month's wages so that they could clear their debt ashore.
During the first month aboard the diet was generally "salt horse"
(beef of low quality preserved with salt). It was not "haute
cuisine." :-)

At the end of the month the crew wouild make an effigy of a horse and
with great ceremony set it on fire and throw it overboard. This
celebrated the end of having to eat "salt horse."

There are other explanations, I'm told, but this one is as good as
any! ;-)