The Body Farm
20 October 2008, 03:59 PM
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The Body Farm
I never knew what the expression 'he bought the farm' meant until I read it in a book.Still wondered if it was a fictitious place.
It then popped up in a Steven Fry thing last night.Anyone see it?
For anyone who doesn't know,its where they have corpses littering a garden and they use them to give an idea of time of death by things like which insects/maggots are having a chomp on them
It then popped up in a Steven Fry thing last night.Anyone see it?
For anyone who doesn't know,its where they have corpses littering a garden and they use them to give an idea of time of death by things like which insects/maggots are having a chomp on them
20 October 2008, 04:05 PM
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Yeah I have seen the place on Discovery discovery channel I think 
very gruesome program.
Where they train people to become real CSI's in America to give them an idea on how bodies look in different situations over different time scales people volunteer there body’s to science to gain entry to the farm
very gruesome program.Where they train people to become real CSI's in America to give them an idea on how bodies look in different situations over different time scales people volunteer there body’s to science to gain entry to the farm
20 October 2008, 04:07 PM
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I saw it and like Stephen Fry would happily donate my body (once I've finished with it 
) to them for the sake of developments in anthropological forensic science. If it helps to catch more murderers then it can only be a good thing 
University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
) to them for the sake of developments in anthropological forensic science. If it helps to catch more murderers then it can only be a good thing University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
20 October 2008, 04:42 PM
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20 October 2008, 04:51 PM
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20 October 2008, 08:25 PM
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"bought the farm" comes from much earlier than the body farm though. I thought it came from insurance payouts related to death in service. Someone dreams of growing old and retiring with his wife to a farm with some chickens and a cow, then gets wiped out in an industrial accident. Company pays out and his widow gets to buy the farm with the proceeds........ maybe I just made that up though
20 October 2008, 08:27 PM
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Bought the farm
Specific references to 'the farm' come a little later. There are reports of the phrase being in use in the US military from 1955 onward. Here's a citation from 1963, in Ed Miller's Exile to the Stars:
"The police dispatcher says a plane just bought the farm."
There are a few suggested derivations for the phrase. One, put forward in a 1955 edition of American Speech, is the idea that when a jet crashes on a farm the farmer may sue the government for compensation. That would generate a large enough amount of money to pay off the farm's mortgage. Hence, the pilot paid for the farm with his life.
The second theory is that military men might dream of returning from the battlefront and settling down with a family to a peaceful life down on the farm. If someone were killed his colleagues might say, 'well, he bought the farm early', or similar. Well, yes they might, and there are numerous sentimental US films where dialogue like that wouldn't be out of place. That's not to say the phrase was coined that way though.
A third suggestion is the idea that, if a serviceman was killed in action, his family would receive a payout from the insurance that service personnel were issued with. This would be sufficient to pay off the family mortgage.
Specific references to 'the farm' come a little later. There are reports of the phrase being in use in the US military from 1955 onward. Here's a citation from 1963, in Ed Miller's Exile to the Stars:
"The police dispatcher says a plane just bought the farm."
There are a few suggested derivations for the phrase. One, put forward in a 1955 edition of American Speech, is the idea that when a jet crashes on a farm the farmer may sue the government for compensation. That would generate a large enough amount of money to pay off the farm's mortgage. Hence, the pilot paid for the farm with his life.
The second theory is that military men might dream of returning from the battlefront and settling down with a family to a peaceful life down on the farm. If someone were killed his colleagues might say, 'well, he bought the farm early', or similar. Well, yes they might, and there are numerous sentimental US films where dialogue like that wouldn't be out of place. That's not to say the phrase was coined that way though.
A third suggestion is the idea that, if a serviceman was killed in action, his family would receive a payout from the insurance that service personnel were issued with. This would be sufficient to pay off the family mortgage.
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