"Bet the Farm"

[Stephen Goranson]

Quoting Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>:

> In a Supreme Court opinion yesterday, Justice Scalia used the expression
> "bet the farm."  A journalist is asking me about this phrase.  Can anyone
> point me to any good information, or even give a hunch, as to the
> derivation of this expression?

I have no good information on this, but as a hunch: perhaps "bet the farm"
influenced "bought the farm" or vice versa.

Stephen

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