Words or phrases that are like nails down a chalk/blackboard

Yep, you’ve got it one. Makes my blood boil.

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That one very much might not be a lie - it is very possible to understand what someone is saying, and see their point if view, yet disagree with it.

Boogie :nauseated_face:

RIP. I begin to think this disrespectful of the deceased. It is used constantly and looses any true currency.

Short hand for did you see that Old Thingy had died. Whatever.

Nick,
Originally requiescat in pace - but requiescat does not mean rest, but a prayer offered for the soul of the dead. Modern secular usage ‘rest in peace’ often assumes the body is relieved from suffering.

Personally, I don’t say ‘Paul Sartin has passed’ because I do not feel he’s passed over. I would say he’s died, but we have many euphemisms for death and RIP is the one that seems to be commonly used here and in other places to indicate death. Death is not an event in life, but the way we talk or write about it is a matter of the living, as are funerals. I have immense respect for Mr Sartin as a musician. Do you have a better euphemism or do you prefer the blunt ‘has died’? (By chance I wrote an RIP post in the Folk thread, but I did so with sincere intent).
Derek

Requies means rest according to my Latin-English dictionary. Requiescat is most accurately translated as ‘May he/she rest’, unless you can elaborate further, @Stokie?

Mark

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Mark,
I’ll point you to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rest_in_peace The Latin phrase is used in the Tridentine Requiem Mass several times. Perhaps I should have phrased that as
‘requiescat does not simply mean rest’ but is the opening of a prayer offered for the soul of the dead. Of course the modern English RIP does not have this connotation for secular people. But respect is surely indicated in either case.
Longer explanation here: https://www.funeralhelpcenter.com/what-does-rip-actually-mean/
Derek

Ah, I see your point more clearly now! Thanks.

I agree that it has become a modern cliche and, as such, is perhaps irritating when used unthinkingly. I wonder, though, if the phrase is, in fact, being used prayerfully by people in the situations you’re referring to, albeit more instinctively than purposely. Prayer, especially in times of distress or upset, is a very old human instinct, even in those who would not normally describe themselves as religious. Mere speculation, I suppose.

Thoroughly agree that ‘passed’ is usually revoltingly euphemistic. IME, it’s particularly loathed by those of an age to be more familiar with death.

Mark

Mark,

I don’t consider myself religious, but I do ritually light a candle in memory and am researching with others the history of the village church and gravestones. So I think I may well agree with you. I agree ‘passed’ is used by the young. RIP in writing seems to function as a headline, we are signalled the meaning immediately. (I’ve never heard anyone say it, though the very young do say their acronyms.)

Derek

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My next door neighbour died three months ago aged 75. I did notice that when his wife came home from the hospital, she used the term passed when describing his death.
I can’t think of any reason why anybody would loath the term, certainly not find it revolting.

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I posted two recent death notices on the jazz thread. Both without headlines.
One speaks of a person leaving us which fits very well with my views on death.
The other claims the grim reaper has been abroad again. Perhaps an example of my overly dark humour. But us really old are not always so respectful of what we know lies around the corner
I would be quite happy with……has died.
Thank you both for the Latin lesson. Like most thought it simply meant rest in peace.

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If you use the term and have no knowledge of Latin, that’s exactly what it means. :wink:

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‘Has died’ has an elegant directness and I’m minded to rephrase my posts where I used RIP.

I’m afraid I do not at all like ‘passed’ - passed what? The salt, go…?

To me “has died” “is dead” are not hurtful, disrespectful or demeaning terms (we’re all going there at some point)…“passed” to me is just…a non-sense.

The full phrase “passed on”…well… Not for me, but I guess it may give comfort for afterlife believers, spiritualists…

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To each his or her own, of course. Anyone who prefers to use it because it makes them feel better is obviously free to do so.

Speaking personally, though, whether I hear it used about someone I don’t know or someone I do, it comes across to me as euphemistic, simpering, evasive and, ultimately, dishonest. I think it’s particularly indicative of the well-known queamishness of the British (?English) when it comes to any mention of death, although our US cousins seem keen on the word too.

Conversations I’ve had with those much older than me who are grieving the fresh loss of a husband or wife, for example, have expressed very similar negative feelings about the word without any prompting from me. They say they dislike people using the word in conversation with them: e.g. ‘I was sorry to hear of your wife’s passing’. They actively prefer the directness of the word death: I find I have much more respect for that approach than the opposite. Interestingly, all the examples I’m currently recalling are people of deep Christian faith.

Mark

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Over use of any catch phase, like, “you’ll like this, not a lot” particularly this one!

We spent four billion years of being ‘dead’ before we arrived, so quite why we can’t accept, embrace even, that it will be likewise once we’ve died is a mystery.

People writing base on this forum when they clearly mean bass. Real basics.
Rant over.

Or bassics?

Another one.

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