Talk:buy the farm
Etymology
[edit]This claim [1] that this is an old Air Force saying relating to paying farmers for lost crops is certainly interesting... is there any substantiating evidence? -- Visviva 14:04, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
Life Insurance
[edit]Isn't the "bought the farm" a reference to when a soldier is killed. The life insurance will pay of the mortgage (buy the farm) to his wife/widow. 170.252.126.49 (talk) 08:31, 27 January 2011 (UTC)
When I was growing up (80's 90's) in MI, this was the The life insurance paying of the mortgage/second mortgage/third mortgage/debt (buy the farm) to his wife/family. But had nothing to do with a soldier. As most farms were deeply in debt, this was the only expected way that the farm would be wholly 'owned' again by the family. The idiom was used by all, weather the farmed or not.Larek (talk) 15:26, 16 May 2012 (UTC)
I agree. I've always heard the term to refer to the fixed life insurance payout the govt issues to GIs who died
RobertGary1 (talk) 16:50, 9 May 2017 (UTC)
Kept. See archived discussion of July 2008. 06:00, 25 July 2008 (UTC)