The Death of "Died"

Nobody died anymore.

Oh, they stop breathing. Their hearts stop. Their brains cease to function. But they don't die. They "pass away."

"Pass away" was once the preferred euphemism of aging morticians with round wire-framed glasses and gray suits. At some point, people started turning into smarmy insipid morticians.

It doesn't hurt less to hear "passed away" or "passed."

The grim fact is that grief and sadness aren't assuaged by euphemism. Often enough, euphemism belittles that grief.

We are supposed to be sad when someone we love dies. We are supposed to grieve. It's ok. It's ok to talk about it, too. It's ok to grieve in your own way. And, it's ok to call it what it is.