Those lucky readers who have invested in the property market will be unsurprised to discover that a mortgage is, literally, a pledge to the death. The idea is that a mortgage is a gage, or pledge, that can die in one of two ways. Either you pay the whole debt and the deal dies, or you can fail to make a payment and the deal dies and your house is repossessed and you are forced to live under a railway bridge exchanging amusing stories for crack.