We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2022
A highly unscientific empirical analysis of one week’s obituaries in my local newspaper revealed the following data: of the ninety-four individuals featured that week, only sixteen died (this includes those who died, died peacefully, or died suddenly). The rest passed away (peacefully or without elaboration), were called safely home, were taken too soon, entered into eternal rest, were reunited with loved ones, came to the end of his or her life adventure, or otherwise departed. Euphemism certainly has its place, and it is understandable that many people will opt for euphemism in obituaries. Nevertheless, it is striking how few of the authors of these announcements chose the most concise and descriptive word for the event.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
