The Dead Man's Float

"So you want to learn to swim but you're afraid of the water?  No problem!  Just try the Dead Man's Float!  It's easy!"

The other day, as Marash Girl was walking from the post office, she passed a sign at the end of the street around the corner from her house reading Dead End.  It got her to thinking about all the deads in the English language, and particularly, (since she's been swimming lately), the Dead Man's Float (known in modern parlance as the Front Float).  Marash Boy had recalled earlier this week that when we were growing up, the first thing children were taught during swimming lessons was the Dead Man's Float. . . Why would any child want to learn to swim if they first had to try to do something called a Dead Man's Float?

On a lark, I checked the free dictionary (on line) which listed the following popular expressions in the English language which incorporated the word dead (see below), but the one they missed is the one that affected almost every child growing up, almost every child that ever tried to learn to swim in the 1920's, 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's and 1970's:  the Dead Man's Float!

a dead duck a dead end a dead letter a dead ringer for a dead weight at a dead end be a dead cert be a dead loss be a dead ringer for be as dead as a dodo be as dead as a doornail be brain dead be dead and buried be dead from the neck up be dead from the waist down be dead in the water be dead meat be dead on feet be dead to the world be half-dead be the dead spit of beat a dead horse bring to a dead end catch dead to rights come back from the dead come to a dead end cut dead dead ahead dead and buried dead and gone dead as a dodo

dead as a doornail dead broke dead cat on the line dead center dead certain dead drunk dead duck dead easy dead from the neck up dead giveaway dead in or an animal's tracks dead in the water dead letter dead loss dead meat Dead men tell no tales dead of winter dead on dead on arrival dead on feet dead serious dead set against dead to rights dead to the world dead wood dead wrong drop dead Drop dead! drop-dead drop-dead date drop-dead gorgeous

faint dead away flog a dead horse give up for dead have dead to rights in a dead heat in the dead of night It's ill waiting for dead men's shoes knock dead knock them/'em dead leave for dead Let the dead bury the dead more dead than alive Never speak ill of the dead on dead center over my dead body Over my dead body! play dead raise from the dead rise from the dead roll over and play dead silent as the dead stone dead stop dead in tracks stop one dead in tracks take for dead taken for dead the dead hand of wake the dead would not be caught dead would not be seen dead wouldn't be caught dead