A friend of mine recently returned from a vacation to Europe. During his stay, he met an Englishman who gave him a small lesson on the English language. The lesson involved death and how two parts of the English-speaking world refer to it. The Englishman pointed out how Americans frequently use a euphemism when referencing death. His point was that in England the euphemism isn’t used.
American: “She passed away.”
English: “She died.”
American: “She’s passed on.”
English: “She’s dead.”
I cannot corroborate that the English never use euphemisms to describe death. Perhaps the gentleman was simply explaining a generality. I do know, from frequent and personal experience, that I have always used the expression “passed away” when referring to the death of someone.
I prefer to use the expression passed away instead of died because the word died is such a final term. It implies that no more will this person live, no more will he exist. But I also understand why passed away sounds rather ambiguous, if not completely unrealistic. Passed? Where did they pass? Away? How far away? This expression sounds as if the person were off doing something; as if we are trying to ignore the idea of death.
If you believe that an individual lives beyond the flesh, then you believe they live even in the remembrance of others. Depending on your religion, you may also believe they live beyond this physical world; or that they will return to it another day. This euphemism, passed away, may be part of the beauty of English. It keeps the idea of someone alive even after their physical presence has disappeared.
Language is one of the fundamental ways humans communicate, and as a language grows across the world the ways certain cultures use it differ. Some words are used here, while over there an expression may be used instead.
It would be unfair—and unrealistic—to coin one term for all and expect it to be used. That would be leading us into a prescriptivist world of word creation. Words live just as we do, and they change just as the world changes. The one thing we have in common with them is that we both pass through time; whether we live beyond this or die absolutely, depends on how we look at it.
Copyright © Tyler Gant 2009
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