phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at  Phrases, Sayings
and Idioms Home > Discussion Forum  Re: Graveyard Shift  Posted
by R. Berg on July 11, 2003  In Reply to: Graveyard Shift posted
by Lewis on July 11, 2003  : : Does anyone know where this
phrase came from? I think it means that people who used to work
night hours became so sleep deprived that they literally droped
dead from exhaustion. Being that the world operates from 9 to 5
most people have difficulty adjusting to sleeping during the day
and usually have business they need to take care of, therefore
causing them to develope bad health from the lack of sleep, thus
ending up in the graveyard.  : I think you are close - but not
quite right. I think that the statistic is that more people die
of natural causes at 4 a.m. or thereabouts than at any other
time of day. I think the expression came from that - probably
either from nursing or the emergency services who would be
called out to the recently corpsed. I think it may also have a
derivation from "