Francophonie· medium· informal
casser sa pipe
“to break one's pipe”
Meaning
to die
Explanation
A cheerful, euphemistic way of saying someone has died, in the same register as kicking the bucket.
Example
Le vieux Marcel a cassé sa pipe la semaine dernière, à quatre-vingt-quinze ans.
Old Marcel kicked the bucket last week, aged ninety-five.
Origin
Turns up in 17th-century pamphlets meaning to fly into a rage, and nobody's quite sure how it drifted to mean dying instead. One unproven theory ties it to army surgeons handing wounded soldiers a clay pipe to bite on during operations, which snapped if the patient didn't make it.
Source