"oooh, nom nom nom" quoth the guests on that there Come Dine With Me, "That particular item of nommage is to die for".
Now, I have heard many people use this phrase... but thinking about it, it makes no sense whatsoever.
Let's say I have this lOvely chocolate cake. Mmmmm... all gooey and sticky and tasty and ripe for nudie babes to rub their buttocks in and flatulate at the camera.
Is this not succulent cake a cake to die for?
Let me think...
This cake is to dies fo. To me, that sez "In order to partake of the cake, I need to die for it.".
So, let's say the cake is indeed "to die for" and I promptly take the cake slice and sever my wrists from me body, and wind up all deceased upon the kitchen floor.
How is my inanimate, rigor mortisly solid body going to get at the cake? I'd died for it, for it was indeed "to die for".. but a lack of life inhibits me from taking a bite! Hoisted by my own poltergeisty pet turd!
And with ghostly gums, any attempt at a spectral snack would mean my mouth would simply pass though it, and I'd've died for a cake I couldn't even spookily sample!
There's these wannabe chefs, all willing to die for some grub, not realising that afterlife Ambrosia creamed rice is off the menu! Phantasmagorical feasts at some ectoplasmic eatery in Elyzium is all well and good, but would you seriously contemplate suicide just for a metaphysical Morrigan's meal like a Bain Sidhe-ian banquet?
Bollocks you would!
So, next time someone sez, "Mmmmmmm this [thing] is literally to die for!", punch 'em in the tits or kick 'em in the nadgers. Or apply a stout stick about their person until they're all dead.
THEN ask if that [thing] literally was to die for.
Unless, of course, they mean to die for - ie to toss a spotted cube upon the table, the number of spots indicating how many portions they get.
For example, a Sarah-Lee 12-portion Black Forest Cherry Cake normally comes in a box that "serves 10-12" (or just me). Prehaps this is where "two die for"1 comes in - throw a double six - whoo-hoo! 12 pieces of gateaux all for yerself!
And then you'd end up having a heart attack after all that creamy cherryness, and end up dead anyway.
So perhaps it was to die for anyway...
1 OF COURSE, PEDANTS WILL POINT OUT THAT IT'S ONE DIE, TWO DICE, HENCE DICING WITH DEATH. HOWEVER, SUCH PEDANTS PROBABLY STILL CALL "ONE POTATO TWO POTATO THREE PORATO FOUR!" INSTEAD OF "ONE POTATO, TWO POTATOES, THREE POTATOES, FOUR [POTATOES]" ACTUALLY. AND THEN WHERE ARE THEY? RECEIVING ANOTHER PUNCH IN THE TITS AND AND KICK IN THE NADGERS FOR BEING A SMARTARSE!
