why do we say 'passed'?

To try to soften the blow of death I think. As if anything could.

When people are grieving they can say whatever they feel comfortable with, who is to say what the right word is?

Because people want to believe they are passing from one life to another
I use the word died

BlueBelle

Because people want to believe they are passing from one life to another
I use the word died

Yes, it's a bit like saying someone is 'with God'.

I prefer 'dead', but would follow the lead of a bereaved person if they were talking about it.

I always say a person has died.
I have never understood the reasons for saying a person has passed away.

I always use ‘died’. My DH had a heart attack. He died. I really don’t understand ‘passed’ ‘passed away’ ‘passed on’. Passed where? I find it slightly twee. A person dies. End of. But, each to her/his/their own. Whatever makes one feel comfortable….

I’m with Marmight. I never say anything but “died”. I object to the use of “losing” someone, too. I have never lost anybody! I’m not that careless.

Even the BBC routinely use it now. I think it’s a silly euphemism.

I can understand saying 'passed away' but never 'passed'

Actually I don’t, I say a person has died. We’re you using the royal we OP?

I think it comes from 'passed over' or 'passed away,. I dislike those euphemisms, but like Doodledog, I tend to take my lead from the person I am talking to.
Recently I have become uncomfortable with this - I don't want to upset someone who dislikes 'died' but as 'passed' becomes more and more the norm, I feel that I am being forced into saying it.
So I have just decided that i will use the word 'died' unless I am given a strong indicator that it would be unacceptable. I'm not saying I'm right, I'll just see how it goes. I have written in my 'funeral notes' that died is the term to be used!

I used died/dead too. Passed doesn’t seem to be the right word for something so final.

I always use died.

I use passed. I always thought it was an Americanism for dying. I think it sounds kinder.

I've told my family I am going to die not pass!

We don't say passed we say died/dead.

“Gone to glory”

I don’t use the word passed but I’m a bit uncomfortable with using the word died or dead it’s someone recently bereaved.
I tend to stick with I’m sorry for your loss. Not in the sense of their partner being mislaid but as in the sense of the loss of companionship the loss of their loved one.

Died is the one I use.

My husband's very Devonian aunt used to say 'gone on' which always amused me. Has to be said with the right accent. The very religious uncle on the other side was 'gone to glory'. I can't bear passed, can just about tolerate passed away. I'm in the dead and died camp.

My Grandmother told me someone we knew had ,"cocked his toes up". She also used ,"fell off his perch",as another expression of death.
Those were the days!

I’m a humanist and couldn’t bring myself to say “passed” rather than “died”. I do however appreciate some may not like the finality of “died”, especially if they believe in an afterlife that some may have passed on to.
I also think it’s a symptom of how we regard death in modern society, where death is not openly discussed without being considered morbid, so less direct terms such as “lost” or “passed on” are used.
Years ago death was very much part of daily life.

The non conformist chapel I used to attend used the expression "called to higher service".

“He is a partaken of glory at present, Master Copperfield,” said Uriah Heep.