A closer look
The phrase 'going broke' is entirely literal, dating back to dramatic Italians destroying their own office furniture. In Renaissance Italy, money lending was conducted on wooden benches in the town squares. If a lender ran out of money or defaulted on their obligations, their bench would be publicly broken in half to signify they were no longer in business. The Italian phrase 'banca rotta' translates directly to 'broken bench', which evolved into the modern English word 'bankrupt'. Financial ruin used to involve significantly more theatrical carpentry.
