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

You took the words right out of my mouth!

I also detest the passed or have lost someone. Passed makes me think of exams driving test etc etc. lost sounds like sounds like you’ve been careless and can’t remember where you’ve put your glasses, watch, purse etc etc. I’ve warned my kids that after fighting cancer for the last ten years I will have died and none of this rest in peace etc etc. I will be fighting to the end.

I only get baffled by going over the 'rainbow bridge,' when people refer to the death of a pet. Wherever did that one come from? I find it very silly, so probably is American!

Shelflife

Each to their own, it is whatever makes the person giving the news feels most comfortable with. Whatever phrase is used people understand the meaning and that is what is important.

Totally agree with you. Why some people get so irritated by this I don’t know.

Use your preferred choice of words, and accept that others prefer to use something different to you!

Each to their own.

‘Gone’ is another one that irritates me. I knew someone who, as a child, was told her mother had ‘gone’ and it was days later when she saw people crying that she realised she had died and wasn’t out somewhere.

I prefer died to the euphemisms, and on checking my (ever growing) stack of copies of letters of condolence I have sent, I find I have always used the word death.

As Tennessee Ernie Ford nearly sang:-

"If you see me coming, then get out of my way;
A lot of men didn't, and they passed away."

Yes, it annoys me too, and I am not sure when it became common in British English, but fairly recently, I think.

When I was a child some people used the term that someone had passed away - that was bad enough, but there seemed to be a superstitious dread of using words like death or dying, almost as if you were inviting Death (with a capital and personified )in.

Brought up in a reasonably regligous home, I was taught to say that people died and that no-one dies until the time God wills , but that everyone has to die sometime and that it makes no sense to use euphemisms such as " we have suffered a bereavement" NN has passed away, gone to a better place, "or the like.

Nor was it necessary to takk about "an addition to the family" or a happy event having taken place. A child had been born is a perfectly respectable phrase.

I believe that people and beautiful flowers die.

You only ‘Pass’ when you don’t know the answers!

I say passed away as its more gentler when telling someone,saying died seems more blunt

Mollygo

henetha

Perhaps some people just find it easier, on themselves or others, to avoid the word died. I think whatever people can cope with is fine, especially if it somehow makes them feel better.

Yes.

That is the problem, if we normalised using the words died/dying/death, as it thankfully sounds like we are on this thread, it would not be so hard to say. for some people. It is just a words that describe fully what has happened, all the other words are confusing and incorrect especially for children. You need to be clear and precise when telling children about a death, otherwise they cannot accept the situation and are still hoping the dead person will come back at some point.

Each to their own, it is whatever makes the person giving the news feels most comfortable with. Whatever phrase is used people understand the meaning and that is what is important.

I always say died. I get upset when I think of my late parents and Grandparents but saying “passed” doesnt make me feel any better😳 I guess some people find it less harsh but for me I like to face it head on

I always use the word "died" but I can understand that it might feel too blunt a word for many to use. I don't mind people saying "past away" if that feels more comfortable. But I don't like the term that someone has "past".

Update: I use died, BUT accept others prefer not to.

To me, passed away has been used for many years as can recall hearing a neighbour had passed away and this was in the 50s. I use died, not accept others prefer not to.

I'm with you, Musicgirl.
"Promoted to Glory."

I'm passing away to a kinder thread now.
Leaving all of the confused, and outraged to it, and my condolences to those who are bereaved.

Totally agree but if ever the word 'died' is used it is always preceded by the word 'sadly' which is totally unnecessary. When it is used every time it becomes meaningless.
A bit like "love you' after every communication - I took an order on the phone from a customer last week who left me with that little nugget. It was obviously a sincere comment

Anniebach

Yes you will be dead so don’t try to control

I like that, Anniebach.

knspol

I think many of these responses show a lack of empathy for the people using the term 'passed away'. My DH passed away just over 2 years ago and I still cannot bring myself to say anything else. The alternative sounds, to me, so brutal and harsh and I just cannot say the words.
I fail to see why anybody should be so incensed by the term that they choose to comment on it. What about a little more tolerance???

I'm sorry of your loss and understand.

Accepting others is Kindness -- sprinkle kindness everywhere.

Yes, atoms remain after someone dies and are incorporated into the environment and other living beings:

Rearrangement
When someone dies, their atoms are rearranged into less ordered ways, which is called decay and entropy.

Incorporation
The atoms of a deceased person become part of the environment and are eventually incorporated into other living beings.

Diffusion
The atoms spread out and diffuse through the atmosphere, soil, and water.

Absorption
Light-utilizing organisms absorb the atoms and transform them into tissues, leaves, and tubules.

Incorporation into living beings
Oxygen creatures breathe in the atoms and incorporate them into their organs and bones. Pregnant women may also eat the atoms, and babies may contain them.

The law of conservation of matter states that matter cannot be created or destroyed, so all of a person's atoms must still be around after they die.

Proof enough of passing away for me.

Anniebach

Why oh why mock and criticise anyone who chooses to speak of death as passing, grief is so personal

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

NotSpaghetti

Yes, maybe, Witzend - "passed away" is a gentle sort of death I suppose

Well, a gentler form of announcing a death anyway.
Saying
‘ passed away’ is quite old I think, the US form of it, saying ‘passed’ is also old but has now gravitated to the UK.

Why oh why mock and criticise anyone who chooses to speak of death as passing, grief is so personal

I have never said 'passed' in my life..I have always said ......has died.