They were alive until they were hammered into the door and the point was bent to clench them in the door. Then they couldn’t be used a again

My mom used to say that.
At last I know the full story.

Also why are dead bolts dead?

Is center always dead?

I would guess that the door is supposed to be held solidly therefore dead. So door nails and dead bolts are dead to mean they hold well. But I’ll buy @Tropical_Willie ‘s explanation in lieu of something else.

This is a tacky question.
I hit the nail on the head right there!

The Master didn’t know either:

“Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”

But how can you be dead sure?

Semantics. Live wire. Dead line. Dead letter. What’s the opposite of euphemism? Is the doornail dead or simply inert? Dead language?

This, is an ex nail…It’s bleedin demised!

Why is a box of rocks, or a sack of hammer handles considered dumb?
Were they ever intelligent ?
Remember someone saying you are dumber than a sack of hammer handles?
Or you are as dumb as a box of rocks?

Dead to right, live to left.

^^ comments dead on…

#NonAnimistBigotry