Conference thebay::joyoflex

     I understood it to come from the early days of flying. The unfortunate
    pilot would crash in  a farmer's field or orchard. If he survived
    he paid the farmer for the damages and if not his estate did.
     If this is the case then the original meaning would have been one
    of misfortune (out money AND a plane), but came to  mean the more
    severe side later on when planes got bigger and crashs harder to
    walk away from (which may be where "walked away from it" came??)
  

This came up a long time ago in DESPERADO.  At the time there were two 
popular favorites for most likely derivation.  The term seems to have 
surfaced during the first world war, the two derivations were (a) that 
the soldier's GI insurance would pay off the mortgage on the farm he 
left behind, and (b) the term was originally "bought a farm" meaning he 
bought a little plot of land where he is now pushing up daisys.

						>>>==>PStJTT

    I think it also existed in sailors' folklore, in that many an old  
    salt intended to retire after one more voyage and settle down on 
    a farm.  However, few of them were ever able to save enough money,
    and upon passing away at sea were said to have "bought the farm".

    There was a similar RAF expression during WW II "Old Charlie's bought
    it", meaning Charlie had pranged his plane and been killed.  I suppose
    it was derived from the same source, though I never heard the full
    form in the rash of war movies made in the fifties.

    Jeff.

    John Ciardi (who bought the farm last year) was an entymologist-
    poet who enjoyed finding the origins of words and phrases.
    He had a slightly different version than the biplane note:
    he claimed that in barnstorming days, pilots would pay farmers
    for landing rights in the field during county fairs.  If the
    pilot crashed, he had "bought the farm"--that is, it became
    his grave.
    
    I heard a similar version to the "raising/pushing up daisies"
    mentioned in an earlier reply--I thought that was the origin
    of the phrase until Ciardi gave his version...

Re: .5

Words bug him, huh?

Or does he study buggy words??

(Sorry, just had to take a swat at that one).

Incidentally, the version ***I*** heard umpteen years ago at flight school
(so it's probably biased toward aviation) was that a farmer, annoyed at
frequent runway overruns into his crops, put up several signs along the
runway.  The last one, considerably beyond the runway, was 'You bought
the farm!'

    Re .3: I thought retired sailors purchased inns.