Comments on: Dying to pass this on

By: roy belmont

roy belmont — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 19:20:21 +0000

kcindc #25-
Entangled in my own snare I was, there, surely, and but yet – “toil” itself does come from the cloth of the huntsman’s net, I think, so there’s a cousinish link between them, and the overall point, that people go in there into those rooms to do far more than merely poop and pee, remains.
The hypocrisy and the simpering euphemizing – the “f” word! – the giggles and sniggers of the ignorant at the use of plain and more accurate anglo-saxonisms – all that comes from childhood learning, the taboos and punishments for violation, the Pavlovian “dirtiness” of the organs involved passed on as vitally important from one over-corrected generation to another – though a concerted effort toward breaking away from that, begun en masse in the so-called “60’s”, has given us a somewhat clearer perspective.
That and the near-sterilized environments that now surround our waste disposal systems, both personal and communal. The near-religious purity of the porcelain in most bathrooms making the “dirtiness” seem almost an abstract thing.
Most vestigial prejudice has some accuracy in its cause, if not in its remnant.
As far as clinical terms, stripped of euphemism, well, as lovers often nickname their favorite body parts, scientific accuracy being not paramount in their exchanges, this seems forgivable.
The totality of loss, in the death of someone close and dear, making the flat and simple term, “he died”, while honest and accurate as far as it goes for the disinterested observer, not necessarily most apt when spoken to the bereaved.

By: r@d@r

r@d@r — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 19:09:51 +0000

some swarthmore kids i hung out with one summer used to say “kacked”.

navy vets i know tend to say “head” – other armed forces, “can” – for what i hope are obvious reasons.

now if you will excuse me – if i don’t take a dump right now, i’m gonna kack.

By: Kenny Easwaran

Kenny Easwaran — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 07:12:17 +0000

In the US, “toilet” can only refer to the item of furniture(?) in the bath/rest/washroom (“washroom” is I believe a Canadian and central/western usage). In European and Australian English, I’m pretty sure that “toilet” can refer to the room as well. It just sounds more shocking to us to talk about the toilet, just as I imagine it sounds more shocking to the Brits when we talk about our pants.

By: Jacob Christensen

Jacob Christensen — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:14:24 +0000

Hmm - lively debate (sorry...). Anyway, it turns out that Slate had a podcast about euphemisms for "dead": Slate 2006-10-24 The text of the Dead Parrot Sketch is here.

By: astrongmaybe

astrongmaybe — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:07:00 +0000

“popped his clogs” is nice for “died”

By: nnyhav

nnyhav — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 12:35:03 +0000

oh, no, he’s outside, looking in …

By: abb1

abb1 — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 10:49:27 +0000

It’s been a long time since I read The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh, but (iirc) he’s making fun of a lot of beautifully tasteless American euphemisms there.

By: Katherine

Katherine — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 10:08:59 +0000

I always like the phrase “snuffed it”, but that is probably more appropriate for people you really don’t know, and pets.

To #23, where is it that you see anti-Americanism in the statements you highlight? An observation on American society perhaps – but haven’t we gone a bit far when an abservation (and not necessarily a negative one at that) is perceived as anti-Americanism?

By: bad Jim

bad Jim — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 09:24:09 +0000

A couple of years ago I had the occasion to tour Highgate Cemetery, and, yes the high point was the tomb of Marx. Quite a few of the Victorian habitants of this unsanctified ground were said to have gone to sleep.

By: Tom Doyle

Tom Doyle — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 04:47:34 +0000

Chambers’ caskets are just fine,
Made of sandalwood and pine.
If your loved ones have to go
Call Columbus 690

If your lived ones pass away,
Have them pass the Chambers way.
Chamber’s customers all sing:
“Death, oh death, where is thy sting?”

Radio jingle for US funeral chain, from American Way of Death Revisited(1998) by Jessica Mitford
accessed at
Listing Through Life blog

http://www.carpelibra.org/blogs/listing/?p=969

By: Tom Doyle

Tom Doyle — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 03:24:09 +0000

aaron_m:
“How do I express my deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the grieving family members of the departed in their time of sorrow? ’

“I want to express to them my sincere and heartfelt condolences and total sympathy for them in their most difficult time. I want to offer my devoted support and let them know that they should find courage and strength in the knowledge that their friends’ thoughts and best wishes are with them as they try to bear this irreparable loss.

“But all I can manage to say is ‘Sorry to that Jimmy is dead.’”

What you managed to say expressed what you say you wanted to express, in my view. My mother died a month ago, and that’s pretty much how I’ve understood the various expressions of condolences and sympathy, whatever the particular formulation. I think the bereaved, as general rule, apply a particularly robust interpretive charity in their construction of such expressions.

By: Quo Vadis

Quo Vadis — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 02:42:32 +0000

In US usage, “public bathroom” may also connote bathing facilities. Restroom is more typical for public “toilets” or whatever your word of preference.

By: kth

kth — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 02:11:04 +0000

‘toilet’ is a euphemism too, isn’t it? I doubt there’s a single excretion-related fixture that isn’t most commonly referred to with a pretty French word—toilet, commode, bidet, latrine (the latter proving that even the American military can’t do without a nice word for what I guess y’all call the loo).

By: Henry (not the famous one)

Henry (not the famous one) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:52:18 +0000

«Je vais ou je vas mourir, l’un et l’autre se dit ou se disent. »
I am about to—or I am going to—die: either expression is correct.
~~ Reputed last words of Dominique Bouhours, French grammarian, d. 1702

By: phosphorious

phosphorious — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 22:45:44 +0000

I have always liked “pushing up daisies”.

In high school, a french teacher told me that the equivalent locution in french was “eating dandelions from the roots up”.

Ever since, American though I am, I have never been able to to truly hate the french.