He's A Goner.

[MANICHAEAN]

The English language has a treasure trove of curious expressions and I had a reminder of this the other day when a colleague asked the meaning of "Gone for a Burton"

I explained that as far as I could remember it usually meant that someone had died in spectacular fashion, or let themselves go downhill badly.

Then came the hard part - Why Burton?

Any takers?

[Emil Miller]

The English language has a treasure trove of curious expressions and I had a reminder of this the other day when a colleague asked the meaning of "Gone for a Burton"

I explained that as far as I could remember it usually meant that someone had died in spectacular fashion, or let themselves go downhill badly.

Then came the hard part - Why Burton?

Any takers?

I just got this from Google:

It was RAF slang in world war two, and was taken from a series of adverts for Burton Ale - there would always be someone obviously missing from the scene, ie an empty chair or something, and the catch phrase was 'He's gone for a Burton'
RAF crews used it as a euphemism for people killed or missing in action.

[MANICHAEAN]

Thanks Brian. That makes sense.

At first I thought it had something to do with Burton suits (one's first suit in those bygone days!)

Then I followed up on the Burton Beer you pointed out. Yes, in pre-war times, the company based in Burton-on-Trent reportedly used to run adverts displaying a football team with one man short. When someone enquired about the missing team member, the response was: "He's gone for a Burton". The implication was he had gone down the pub for a beer and wouldn't be back. The beer angle also ties in with the RAF pilots crashing in the sea, or "the drink".