Passed What?

[bainbrig]

He didn't shoot, he seldom scored,
In fact he never tried;
And when the final whistle blew
He didn't pass - he died.

B

[murraymints]

Ball

[bainbrig]

Blimey, it was supposed to be rhetorical-cum-jovial (being fed up with the number of people these days who 'pass' rather than 'die'). Oh well.

[elliemay1]

Maybe you should have posted it in Jokes

[bainbrig]

But it's not a joke, it's a verse (wouldn't call it a poem). There is no place in Answerbank for philosophical thoughts, apparently, or for poetry!

[Sqad]

LOL.....I can empathise with you, as I will never understand why people just "pass away"........DIE? yes......but "pass away?"

[bainbrig]

Hello sqad. Yes, it's all part of the move towards nice inoffensive infantile euphemisms, isn't it. We don't defecate, we poo. We don't die, we pass (away). Gord help us.

[Sqad]

LOL.

[mccfluff]

i don't think passed away is a new saying - intruigued me so I looked it up
"pass away
Also, pass on or over . Die, as in He passed away last week, or After Grandma passes on we'll sell the land, or I hear he's about to pass over. All these terms are euphemisms for dying, although the verb pass alone as well as pass away have been used in the sense of "pass out of existence, die" since the 1300s. The two variants-adding on [c. 1800] and over [c. 1900]-allude to moving to some other-worldly realm"

[Mamyalynne]

If it's all part of the move towards... then we're taking our time.

//'Pass away' must be one of the oldest euphemisms known in English. It was coined at a time and place, that is, the 15th century in England, when most people would have believed that the departing of the soul of a dead person was a literal physical event. Indeed, 'passing away' didn't mean dying as it does now. When wakes were held for recently deceased people the attendees believed that the dead person could hear and comprehend everything that was being said: it was only later, when the funeral rites were complete, that the dead person 'passed away' and began the journey toward either Heaven or Hell.//

[bainbrig]

Well, can't argue with those facts, but there IS a general move towards infantalising language, of which passing on and pooing (to use two extremes) are examples. In my younger day (many days ago) if we'd heard a grown-up say 'I'm going for a poo' we'd have thought they were joking. Not so now...

BB

[weecalf]

Passed on ?

[ladybirder]

I suppose many people believe we just pass through this life and then pass on to next. Not what I would say myself, if someone's "passed on" they've died and dare I say, end of!

[Mamyalynne]

I would only ever use the word 'poo' in jest - opened bowels,passed a motion or stools if I really felt the need to discuss my toilet habits.

[Khandro]

I prefer, "He racked his cue".

[ladybirder]

I've just laughed at that Khandro. Not sure I should have, oops.

[bhg481]

bainbrig //but there IS a general move towards infantalising language//
For the whole of my life people have used euphemisms for personal bodily functions and body parts - it's not at all new, it's just that the euphemisms move on from time to time.

[Cloverjo]

I don't think it's infantilising. 'Passed' softens the blow of death slightly.

[ladybirder]

You're joking Clover yes?

[ethandron]

Do you think so clover? I find it an odd way of saying someone has died, I would never say someone has passed. They died, whichever way it's said.

[bhg481]

I agree with cloverjo.