I blame you, Morgan Freeman

Just recently I've become unreasonably irritated by the expression 'my Bucket List'

For the Yurt-Dwelling readership (and honestly guys, try to do a better job keeping up with stuff, huh?) the reference is to a movie by the same name which starred Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two older gentleman who may or may not have been dying of something more tangible than 'time' but I'm not really sure because I never got around to seeing it.

The upshot of the movie is that they wrote down a list of all the ridiculous things they want to do while they're still alive (i.e. before they 'kick the bucket', hence - Bucket List)

It's basically like you thought to yourself, 'Hey, self, that Tim McGraw song is pretty good.  I wish I could watch it dragged out to somewhere around the 90 minute mark.'

What it spawned instead is an entire culture of folks who feel the need to compile their own 'bucket lists', which is harmless enough in and of itself, except it really gives the impression that we as a people are so desperate to reach the Giant Otter of Death that we're actively doing everything that we can to eliminate all obstacles between it and ourselves.

Must...reach..death..faster!  Quickly, get me a French language course and a knife-wielding prostitute!!

In this sense, the film 'The Bucket List' has more than a few idiomatic crimes to answer for.*

*Although not nearly so many as either 'The Perfect Storm', or 'Swingers'

And if any of you artistic types would like to design a 'Death is a Giant Otter' image I will cheerfully have it printed on a t-shirt.  And a tea cozy.  And possibly have it tattooed in the small of my back.