Lay the ghost to rest

Posted by Smokey Stover on July 17, 2006

In Reply to: Lay the ghost to rest posted by R. Berg on July 17, 2006

: : : : : What are other phrases like 'Lay the ghost to rest' about feeling the need to have to do something in order to get over something which has happened in the past.

: : : : : I'm sure there are more, one in particular I am trying to think of

: : : : Let the dead bury the dead. See: www.phrases.org.uk bulletin_board 3 messages 18.html

: : : : Then there's my personal favorite:

: : : : TWO TEARS IN A BUCKET - An expression of dismissal by Lady Chablis, a transvestite entertainer in the film (based on the book) "Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil":

: : : : The Lady Chablis: It's like my mother always said: "Two tears in a bucket, motherf**k it."

: : : : John Kelso: Hmm. I'll have to remember that one.

: : : PS. Re-reading I see that you were asking about a phrase that indicates something has been done to lay the ghost to rest. There's an overworked word: closure.

: : Kill the beast. Put affairs in order. Conquer the demons. air it out. come to terms with.

: Put it behind you (traditional usage). Work through it (psychologists' usage). Get over it (rude usage when spoken as an admonition).

Move on. I have a tiny quarrel with two of the previous suggestions, beginning with "lay the ghost to rest." That's fine in regard to experiences that haunt you. I just want to point out that it's a transferred meaning from "lay the ghost," in which the ghost is a "real" ghost.
The other is "Let the dead bury the dead." It means to leave behind one's entire previous life, if I correctly interpreted it. Christ wanted his followers to be ready to move on now, not to hang about waiting to comlete all sorts of time-consuming social rituals. It didn't refer to the personal "ghosts" that might be haunting an individual.
SS