phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

Water, water

Posted by Henry on February 05, 2005

In Reply to: Gone for a burton posted by Lewis on February 03, 2005

: : Just been looking on this site for the origion of "gone for a Burton!" My other half thinks that it has something to do with an old racing driver who crashed and killed himself! Right or wrong? We say this when someone trips or tumbles, Ive noticed that some of the answers on this refeer to death!

: The archives have some discussion on this - Burton Ale was popular during WWII (as it is today, to a lesser extent) - so pilots remarking on one of their number being missing used the expression that the person had 'gone for a Burton' rather than died/gone MIA.

: the technique of adding carefully calculated salts to water to make better beer is called 'Burtonisation' - named after the famously good water of the Trent - just in case anybody cared.

: L

Of course it's important! Burton is justly famous for its beer, but the water for brewing in Burton comes from wells. The breweries in Burton-upon-Trent are no more reliant upon the River Trent for their water supply than the Guinness brewery in Dublin is reliant upon the River Liffey.

© 1997 – 2024 Phrases.org.uk. All rights reserved.