Death Thread

[Graveyard Goddess]

Words reffering to dying/the dead

Dead & Buried
213 Euphemisms for Death and Dying

I found a "compiled this list of euphemisms as part of a course on the sociology of dying and death"

thought it would be fun to post it

a-b

(go to/be in)Abraham's bosom
an awfully big adventure - J.M Barrie, Peter Pan (Ceiridwen's favourite!)
at the end of one's rope
answer the last call
awake to life immortal
basting the formaldehyde turkey - chefs' euphemism
(the) big jump - cowboy slang
(was) beamed up - Star Trek reference
(the) big sleep
bite it
bite the big one
bite the biscuit
bite the dust
bless the world with one's heels - hanging reference
(the) bosom of the Father and his God - Thomas Gray
bought a pine condo
bought the disk farm - computer geek euphemism
bought his lunch
buy the box - coffin
breathe one's last
buy the farm


c-d

cached in his chips - computer geek euphemism
cashed in
cash in your chips - another reference to viewing life as a loan
checked out
cash out
climb the Golden Stair
coiled up his ropes
collapsed his/her outline - specific to technical writers
condition non-conducive to life - terminally ill
cooking for the Kennedys - chefs' euphemism
croaked
crossing the bar - Tennyson
crossing the river
cross on the Stygian ferry
cross the Great Divide
(the) crown of life - Edward Young
curtains - theatre reference
dance on air - hanging
dangle in the sheriff's picture frame - hanging
deanimate
debt we all must pay - Euripides
deleted from the BOM - specific to technical writers
disassemble - Short Circuit (late 80's movie)
disincorporate - martian suicide, in Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land"
donating the liver paté - chefs' euphemism
done like dinner
(the) downward path - Horace
(the) dread abode - Thomas Gray
(that) dreamless sleep - Byron


e-f

(the) empty vessel
end of the line
(the) eternal yawn
exported to a flat file - computer geek euphemism
face-planting the meringue () - chefs' euphemism
fade away
feed the fishes - returning to nature
(that) fell sergeant - personification of Death by Shakespeare
fettucine al dead-o - chefs' euphemism
filleting the soul - chefs' euphemism
flatline
formatted with black borders - specific to technical writers
for whom the bell tolls - A reference to a prose work by John Donne (1573-1631) entitled 'Meditation 17' "...therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." ...Thanks Julie!
freeing the spirit


g-h

(be) gathered to one's fathers
gate of life - St. Bernard
get your halo
gibbed - Dying in an explosive manner in video games like Quake... you leave giblets, or "gibs" for short, laying around

give an obolus to Charon
give up the ghost
go for a burton - British
go home feet first
go home in a box - military, esp. during WW2
goin' to a dance pawty wit' Gawd!
going into the fertilizer business
gone to the big glass house in the sky - computer geek euphemism
go the way of all earth - Biblical
go the way of all flesh
go to a necktie party - hanging
go to a necktie social - hanging
go to meet one's maker
go to one's just reward
go to one's last home
go to one's last account
go to one's rest
go to the happy hunting ground
go to the last roundup - cowboy expression
go west - The sun setting in the west was tied to death in some cultures (esp. Egyptian). Also a pioneer expression.
Greet the reaper
(that) grim ferryman - personification of Death by Shakespeare
(the) great leveller had his/her 80-column card punched - computer geek euphemism
(the) Hamlet sleep - Thomas Gray
hand in one's chips
hang up your tack - cowboy expression
has reservations at the Chateau Eternity - chefs' euphemism
Hell's grim tyrant - personification of Death by Pope
his number's up


i-j

immortally challenged
(the/th') inevitable hour - Thomas Gray
information superhighway roadkill - computer geek euphemism
inspired a new warning message - specific to technical writers
in the sweet hereafter
it's Taps - military
join one's ancestors
join the angels
join the majority - Oddly enough, this isn't accurate anymore... there are more people living now than have ever lived.
(the) journey's end - Shakespeare
Just Add Maggots - chefs' euphemism


k-l

kick the bit bucket - computer geek euphemism
kick the bucket - hanging
kick the can - hanging
kicked the oxygen habit
kind Nature's signal of retreat - Samuel Johnson
(the) king of terrors - Biblical personification of death
kiss the dust
kneel at the big gates - Catholic reference to the gates of Heaven
(get) knocked off - gangster speak
(the) latter end - Biblical
launched into eternity
left the building
"a little folding of the hands to sleep" - Biblical
(a) little sleep
(a) little slumber
living-challenged
living-impaired
lost in translation - specific to technical writers


m-n

mailed in his/her warranty card - specific to technical writers
marinating in soil and worms - chefs' euphemism
meat
meet one's maker
meet the reaper
moved into upper management - specific to technical writers
negative patient care outcome - so very PC
never-ending trip
(the) Notorious D.O.A. - became a joke after the Notorious B.I.G.'s death


o-p

off the record
on one's last legs - dying
on the Hell Express/express elevator to Hell
on the road to nowhere
(the) pale priest of the mute people - personification of Death by R. Browning
pass over Jordan - Biblical
passed on
(get) pasted - refers to a violent death
pay one's debt to nature - many cultures see life as a loan
pay the piper
peasant under grass - chefs' euphemism
peg out - cribbage reference
permanently out of print - specific to technical writerspermasleep
picking up your harp
pop off the hooks - somewhat irreverent allusion to the Crucifixion and de-nailing/taking down of Jesus Christ's body after his death
printed white on white - specific to technical writers
promoted to Subterranean Truffle Inspector - chefs' euphemism
pull the plug - euthanasia
pushing up daisies
pushin' up parsley - chefs' euphemism
put in the crisper - chefs' euphemism
put on immortality


r-s

remaindered - specific to technical writers
reformatted by God - computer geek euphemism
retroactive abortion
ride the lightning - Get executed in the electric chair
rung down the curtain and joined the Choir Invisible!
(the) seamouth of mortality - Robinson Jeffers
sampling the French Onion Soup with a salmonella spoon () - chefs' euphemism
sent to the dirt archives - computer geek euphemism
shed the mortal coil
shit the bed
shuffle off this mortal coil - Shakespeare
singing with the angels
six feet under
sleep with the fishes - gangster speak
(the) sleeping partner of life - Horace Stern
sleeping with the quiches - chefs' euphemism
slip one's cable
slowly cooling to room temperature - chefs' euphemism
(get) smeared - refers to a violent death
snuff it
sowing the Elysian Fields - Greek reference to the resting place of heroes
(get) sporked off - Kind of an onomatopoeia. Spork!
step onto one's last bus
street pizza - car accident victims
struck out by the Big Blue Pencil - specific to technical writers
sun one's moccasins


t-u-v-w

take a dirt nap
take an earth bath
taken out of production - computer geek euphemism
take the last count
"...that fell arrest which summons the all without bail" - Shakespeare
that good night - "Do not go gentle into that good night", Sir Dylan Thomas
(get) toasted
toes up - there's a visual that goes with it, you have to put your arms out stiffly at a 45 degree angle, kind of like a two-armed Nazi salute
toss in one's alley - Australian. Reference to marbles.
tribute due unto nature - Laurence Stern
turning up daisies
turn one's face to the wall - The final gesture of acceptance. "He turned his face to the wall / And prayed unto the Lord." 2 Kings 22:2
turn up one's toes
(the) undiscovered country - Hamlet
visiting Davy Jones' locker
walked the plank
wear a glass necklace - An old reference to car accidents, in which the victim's head would go through the windshield.
wearing a columbian necktie - Get your throat cut & tongue pulled through. Yum.
wearing cement overshoes - gangster execution method
wearing concrete galoshes - gangster execution method
wearing concrete shoes - gangster execution method
went on-line - specific to technical writers
(get) whacked - gangster speak
widowed and orphaned - specific to technical writers
worm food

[starryeyes]

I've got another one.... "passed away" that's what i usualy use

[foblin]

That's alot of words

[Graveyard Goddess]

i forgot that one!

If someone was sorry for a death of someone close to me id rather them say
"im sorry your friend committed suicide"
rather than
"Im sorry your friend has had his/her soul taken from you"

[fallen]

I had no idea "kicked the can/bucket" was from hangings, that's pretty interesting.

"bought a pine condo" is kinda funny though, I'd never think that's what someone meant if they said that to me.

"get smeared" and "marinating in soil and worms" is disgusting though, not to mention sounds kind of distasteful *heh I think I made a pun there*

[mourningnite]

I had a friend when I was younger who was a HUGE fan of (I forget which band sorry .. eep) but her dad hated them and when one of their members was killed (seems I remember a bus accident?) he was the one who told her. He came in her room while she was sleeping kicking a bucket around the room and told her he died. i thought that was morbidly amusing, yet fairly cruel. HA.