When did 'Passing' become the new word for died????

I don't like the phrase, 'Ive buried my mother/father/whatever.' Usually said in a sanctimonious voice. I can just imagine them standing by with a spade. Maybe it's just a Scots saying though?.

Aveline

I don't like the phrase, 'Ive buried my mother/father/whatever.' Usually said in a sanctimonious voice. I can just imagine them standing by with a spade. Maybe it's just a Scots saying though?.

That made me laugh actually, never heard anyone say it but maybe it’s just a Scottish thing as you say.I imagined Billy Connelly saying it.😄

A funny euphemism came from someone too coy to say she was pregnant again, ‘We’re starting another family’
Why do so many daft words come from America?

I think it is an Americanism.

I always say my husband passed away, for some reason I can't say died out loud, still after 4 years its hard and he was only 66 and just retired, when these sort of comments come up I'm sure people don't think before they write sometimes ;(

Well I’ll take “passed away” over the newest one that seems to be popular amongst the younger generation, “UNALIVE”. That really winds me up when I see it!!

Passed away has been used for a long time but it was around 11 or 12 years ago a colleague talked about someone who had passed. I was wondering what she was talking about - I was looking around for someone who had walked past us!
Why can't people just say died.

Anniebach

No one has to say it

You’re at it again!

Anniebach

Very Christian, ridiculing, mocking , criticising,

Something you NEVER do, of course!!!

EEJit

I'm not so bothered about "Passed", but there is another one I've started seeing, "unalive" or "unalived" for died or killed", it really bugs me.

On the subject of death, I hate the phrase "over the rainbow bridge" when an animal dies or is dead. It sounds ridiculous.

Never heard those, but I agree with your dislike of them

Love all these comments. So glad we have a sense of humour. Please, no 'passing' or 'passed'. Let's face it square on, we die eventually. End of. Why can't we face it? Goes to show how we have adopted so many Americanisms.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Back in 1870, earth's proud empires passed away, according to the Rev. John Fullerton ("The day Thou gavest, Lord is ended").

It is not just the words we use, it is the way we react to death. People on here say is is too blunt to say death/died. If we talked about death to be as normal as birth is, it would not feel blunt it would feel normal albeit still sad. We need to talk to each other about our wishes, what is important to us and preferably long before it is obvious we are dying. It makes life so much easier all around and enables us to have a good death, which is so very important for us and indeed for our loved ones we leave behind. I will bet you anything that the people who cannot say death/died outright are the people who have not had these important conversations with their loved ones. Too many people can't talk about and don't want to know. How ridiculous is that. It is one thing in life which is certain, we die. I am forever going on about the importance to normalise death and am shocked that so many people cannot accept death as being normal and part of every day life. Of course it hurts to say good bye to a loved one for good, but if you have done everything in your power to enable them to have a good death, you will find it so much easier to talk about and actually say out loud from the first moment your loved one died and you notify people about their death.

I’m happy that my family use whatever words they choose to refer to me when I’m dead. I’d hate them to be upset by having their choice of words rubbished by others.

Check out George Carlin on YouTube. He was so right!

Celieanne86

I hate this word passing also lost. I have not lost my husband he has died and I know exactly where he is, he’s in our local cemetery in a grave so he’s not lost to me. Why are people afraid to use the word dead, that’s final. Sorry but just my own opinion.

I agree. I used to work in a bank and they started saying this "x has passed" nonsense around 15 or 20 years ago. I have told my family to never say I have "passed" about me. Just say someone has died. This "passed" terminology came around early 2000s from USA. I find it aggravating

LisaP

Worlds first problems eh?
Does it really matter what term people use - surely its what they are comfortable saying.
My wife died in July and my daughter died in August so it is all very raw for me but I have had every term thrown at me in the last few months. I dont get bent out of shape over it. I may use whatever terminolgy depending on the audience.

It sounds trite when I say I am sorry, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that two of your loved ones died, especially so close together.
Lost, passed, whatever. I can understand why it doesn’t worry you whichever term is used. That doesn’t alter the fact that you have been dealt a dreadful blow and my heart goes out to you.

please think of people who are grieving, wracked by grief perhaps;
some of these comments could be quite upsetting.
this subject is in a different category than the usual SPAG/English usage/Pedants' Corner
type of discussions.

Well timed. Went to the funeral of a lifetime friend today, someone I loved like a sister. Her DH at 79 is obviously in bits.
Nobody was crass enough to refer to my friend as dead, though we know that she is, people referred to her as having passed away, because when people have just lost a loved one they don't need to have their noses rubbed in it. A little tact is what is called for. And if others don't care for this then I suggest they just don't use the term themselves.
Hardly the end of the world.

the verb “pass” passed into English in the early 13th century by way of England’s Norman rulers.

The English verb has been used in reference to dying since around the year 1230, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Many of the early published references cited in the OED use it in the verbal phrases “pass to God” or “pass to heaven.” The verbal phrase “pass away,” which is more common today, dates from the 14th century.

The word “pass” has been used by itself since around 1340 as a verb meaning to die. The OED cites published references in Chaucer, Shakespeare, Tennyson, and many other writers.

Here’s an example from King Lear (1608): “Vex not his ghost, / O let him passe.”

Mollygo

I’m happy that my family use whatever words they choose to refer to me when I’m dead. I’d hate them to be upset by having their choice of words rubbished by others.

Ain’t that the truth!
Allow people to say what they like when a loved one dies.Passed away is a gentler form of referring to death and if it helps the bereaved then that’s all to the good.

I wish I could say that my husband passed away. It sounds a lovely, peaceful way to go. I can't even bring myself to say he died. He was killed. By an idiot lorry driver. I'd far prefer to be able to say he passed away. But whatever term you choose to use, the end result is the same.

MissAdventure

the verb “pass” passed into English in the early 13th century by way of England’s Norman rulers.

The English verb has been used in reference to dying since around the year 1230, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Many of the early published references cited in the OED use it in the verbal phrases “pass to God” or “pass to heaven.” The verbal phrase “pass away,” which is more common today, dates from the 14th century.

The word “pass” has been used by itself since around 1340 as a verb meaning to die. The OED cites published references in Chaucer, Shakespeare, Tennyson, and many other writers.

Here’s an example from King Lear (1608): “Vex not his ghost, / O let him passe.”

Thanks for this, l get peeved by folk claiming certain words originated in America when they clearly do not.
I remember "passed away" being used in my childhood so nothing new.

M0nica

I have threatened to come back and haunt any member of my family, who uses 'passed away' or 'passed' when describing my eventual death.

Kicked the bucket and similar terms will be acceptable but nothing shmaltzy, euphemistic, or sentimental is permissable.

When I die, I will be dead.

My father threatened to come and haunt anyone who wasted money on flowers for his funeral.
In the hope that he would, my mother put a small bunch on the coffin.
Needless to say, she was disappointed.