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probably a stupid question but...

  • 14-08-2014 1:21pm
    #1
    diograis
    Registered Users Posts: 435 ✭✭


    Hey sorry if this has been asked already,
    I read a quote on here a while back from someone's wife on the passing of her husband. She was asked if she was sad that he was gone and there was no afterlife as he had said while he was alive. She had a beautiful piece about the time they spent together, can't find it anywhere online and I'm curious. Pretty sure it's bertrand russell? Thankssss


Comments

  • #2
    Mr. CooL ICE
    Registered Users Posts: 17,487 ✭✭✭✭Mr. CooL ICE


    Carl Sagan, perhaps?


  • #3
    SebBerkovich
    Registered Users Posts: 1,624 ✭✭✭SebBerkovich


    Nicolas Cage wrote: »
    Carl Sagan, perhaps?

    Yup, Ann Druyan has an amazing way with words. the Cosmos series is a testament to that.


  • #4
    diograis
    Registered Users Posts: 435 ✭✭diograis


    Woo thank you !


  • #5
    Hotblack Desiato
    Registered Users Posts: 33,822 ✭✭✭✭Hotblack Desiato


    I hate the term 'passing', 'passing on' etc. Grinds my gears. Theists use it to imply moving on to an afterlife and all that crap.

    He died. No non-believer should have trouble with describing death as simply that.

    Life ain't always empty.



  • #6
    diograis
    Registered Users Posts: 435 ✭✭diograis


    euphemisms have their place though, doesn't bother me too much in the grand scheme of things


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  • #7
    Rough Sleeper
    Registered Users Posts: 803 ✭✭✭Rough Sleeper


    Hotblack Desiato wrote: »
    I hate the term 'passing', 'passing on' etc. Grinds my gears. Theists use it to imply moving on to an afterlife and all that crap.

    He died. No non-believer should have trouble with describing death as simply that.
    The only time when euphemisms annoy me is when they're spun with the intention of downplaying acts that are questionable or downright wrong. Collateral damage springs immediately to mind. Death is hard to deal with and saying a person died is a little clinical for some. "Passing on" is a term that's been in use long enough that it's transcended its metaphysical origins, and using it does not necessarily imply that you believe a dead person has persisted in some form any more than saying "bless you" suggests you're imparting a favour from God.


  • #8
    swampgas
    Registered Users Posts: 3,534 ✭✭✭swampgas


    Rough Sleeper wrote: »
    The only time when euphemisms annoy me is when they're spun with the intention of downplaying acts that are questionable or downright wrong. Collateral damage springs immediately to mind. Death is hard to deal with and saying a person died is a little clinical for some. "Passing on" is a term that's been in use long enough that it's transcended its metaphysical origins, and using it does not necessarily imply that you believe a dead person has persisted in some form any more than saying "bless you" suggests you're imparting a favour from God.

    Fair point. I tend to prefer "passed away" to "passed on" though.


  • #9
    Rough Sleeper
    Registered Users Posts: 803 ✭✭✭Rough Sleeper


    swampgas wrote: »
    Fair point. I tend to prefer "passed away" to "passed on" though.
    Aye, when I think of it that's the turn of phrase I'd use myself.


  • #10
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users Posts: 26,017 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    "Passing on" and "passing away" seem to me to be giving way to just "passing" (which is what the OP uses).

    They all annoy me equally, but I recognise that's my problem, not anybody else's. When I hear somebody say that so-and-so has "passed" I have to bite my tongue to avoid saying "passed what?" I myself would just say "died".


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