It's theologically complicated. Calvinists believe that you're chosen or not, so it's a crap shoot until you actually die and find out. The Baptists, which is the denomination I was brought up in, hold that you can choose to be accept Christ and then you're good to go.
Phil Silvers aside, I find that film monumentally unfunny. The last time I watched it, I watched it carefully from beginning to end so that I could more easily vow never to watch a frame of it again.
I'm losing my mind! I cannot figure out what scene Merrill is referring to, nor what film you cite. I've tried and tried and tried, but nothing I do brings me any closer to the answer. PLEASE, tell me what film/scene you're discussing!
Oh, ha, sorry: It’s It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, in which Jimmy Durante kicks off the entire adventure by literally, at the moment of his death, kicking a bucket.
(If you google “Jimmy Durante kicks bucket,” you’ll easily make your way to the clip.)
I had a feeling that's the movie you meant, but I didn't remember him literally kicking a bucket. Shame on me; I've seen it often enough! Just FYI, Phil Silvers is (was) my great Uncle. He was my paternal grandfather's kid brother. My grandmother and grandfather and mother lived with my paternal great-grandfather and all the boys when my mom was a little girl. She was 3 when she saw him on stage for the first time (he was 16). She ran down the aisle yelling, :that's my Unca Philly up there," over and over. I still miss him!
I think that your Great Uncle Phil may well be the funniest person who ever lived. (At least on the male side, thus leaving room for Bea Lillie, Maggie Smith, Prunella Scales, and Geraldine McEwan.)
I’m nearly finished (I started yesterday and got dozy) watching him in the Damn Yankees telecast, which I haven’t seen in a long time (possibly not since it was first aired) and in which he is, of course, a delight.
When my British friend (see footnote 10 in the linked piece, in case you don’t feel like making your way through the entire thing) chided me about my American-style use of it in some article or other, I literally had no idea what she was talking about and had to ask her to explain it to me.
There's worse out there, though not in journalism, fortunately (for now). In a number of American movies or shows they now have a euphemism for the euphemism: "to pass" instead of "to pass away": "My mom passed two years ago."
I see I am not alone in noting this, having chased down the link in your post. Still, I had to say it, I just couldn't pass up (no, "pass" doesn't work here) the opportunity.
Few things irk me more. Ridiculous euphemism - "to pass away". Big joke in our family - entire clan has been forbidden, when the bus finally hits me, to say anything other than: "she died"
My late brother and I similarly joked about how much we both despised it, along with others like "made the transition," etc. Hence, when he got on my nerves, I'd threaten to write that he "crossed the rainbow" bridge in his obituary.
I regularly say someone "popped his/her/their clogs." It's a delightful (yes, I said that) way to say someone died, and so few Americans know or embrace it. When my time comes, that's how I want my obit to put it. xo
I do like "handed in his dinner pail" as a ephemism for "died", to the extent I've toyed with the idea of stipulating its use in any announcement of my own death, should such a thing ever prove necessary.
Just a point of order/wonderment: I can edit, after the fact, any note (of mine, that is, not anyone else’s, that would be terrifying) or comment of mine on a note by clicking on the three dots I see off to the right.
My Wordpress blog gives commenters absolutely no options once they’ve submitted. I, on the other hand, CAN edit their posts—a power I’ve used on request a couple of times, most recently because someone had madly overshared.
I can, here, delete commenters’ comments outright (which I used to have to do with some frequency before I put a paywall on the comments), but I can’t edit them.
(I have joked at Bluesky about wanting the ability to edit not only my own posted posts but other people’s as well, and the response from some people has been “I wish you could!” Of course there was the one person who thought I was being serious and threw an explosive tantrum.)
I am—with the utmost respect and politeness—going to disagree, at least a little bit. "Pass away" is a classic Southern expression, and it doesn't bother me in most contexts. Given Graham's status as an ostentatious professional Southerner, I don't even think the phrase is out of place in the headline, though like you, I would have changed it to "died" back in my copy-editing days. However, the shortened, even more Southern version—"Lindsey Graham passed"—I would change in any context since it makes the late senator sound like a kidney stone. "Passed" is best saved for conversation and not writing.
Most members of my family, and my wife’s, hate the passed away euphemism. My late brother in law, a newspaper reporter, hated it so much he asked before he died that this be etched in in his gravestone: “I could go at any time, but will not pass away.” But give me “passed away” every time over “crossed the rainbow bridge.”
I am struggling to remember the title of a Lord Dunsany story that ended with a quote something like "...and so little did she appreciate her deliverance, that in the end she never died, but merely passed away at her residence." Unfortunately, Google is not helpful.
And the only daughter of the Merchant Prince felt so little gratitude for this great deliverance that she took to respectability of a militant kind, and became aggressively dull, and called her home the English Riviera, and had platitudes worked in worsted upon her tea-cosy, and in the end never died, but passed away at her residence.
Such a curious thing—Christians pass while Jews just die … one must dig deeper.
Christians pass on because to die is to cross the threshold into everlasting joy or the other thing.
Hmm — I thought “the other thing” was reserved for Jews … and Muslims, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and, well, everybody else.
It's theologically complicated. Calvinists believe that you're chosen or not, so it's a crap shoot until you actually die and find out. The Baptists, which is the denomination I was brought up in, hold that you can choose to be accept Christ and then you're good to go.
And the Jews? “A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants.”
That scene puzzled me for many years. But then, I was 12 when I saw it, so I think a lot got past me.
Phil Silvers aside, I find that film monumentally unfunny. The last time I watched it, I watched it carefully from beginning to end so that I could more easily vow never to watch a frame of it again.
I'm losing my mind! I cannot figure out what scene Merrill is referring to, nor what film you cite. I've tried and tried and tried, but nothing I do brings me any closer to the answer. PLEASE, tell me what film/scene you're discussing!
Oh, ha, sorry: It’s It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, in which Jimmy Durante kicks off the entire adventure by literally, at the moment of his death, kicking a bucket.
(If you google “Jimmy Durante kicks bucket,” you’ll easily make your way to the clip.)
I had a feeling that's the movie you meant, but I didn't remember him literally kicking a bucket. Shame on me; I've seen it often enough! Just FYI, Phil Silvers is (was) my great Uncle. He was my paternal grandfather's kid brother. My grandmother and grandfather and mother lived with my paternal great-grandfather and all the boys when my mom was a little girl. She was 3 when she saw him on stage for the first time (he was 16). She ran down the aisle yelling, :that's my Unca Philly up there," over and over. I still miss him!
I think that your Great Uncle Phil may well be the funniest person who ever lived. (At least on the male side, thus leaving room for Bea Lillie, Maggie Smith, Prunella Scales, and Geraldine McEwan.)
I’m nearly finished (I started yesterday and got dozy) watching him in the Damn Yankees telecast, which I haven’t seen in a long time (possibly not since it was first aired) and in which he is, of course, a delight.
"Momentarily" being used for "in a moment," rather than "for a moment," does, personally, drive me nuts. Just sayin'
When my British friend (see footnote 10 in the linked piece, in case you don’t feel like making your way through the entire thing) chided me about my American-style use of it in some article or other, I literally had no idea what she was talking about and had to ask her to explain it to me.
And now I know!
Also, whenever someone says “presently“ to mean “now,“ I always mutter, “currently.“ 😉
That drives me bananas.
And let’s not get started on the whole “biweekly” thing.
Ha! There are a couple of Barney Miller episodes in which one or more of the characters say that phrase.
As a hospice volunteer, I prefer “died” to “passed away.”
Not enough people know about the genius of Moms Mabley, whose party records were a staple in my house growing up.
There's worse out there, though not in journalism, fortunately (for now). In a number of American movies or shows they now have a euphemism for the euphemism: "to pass" instead of "to pass away": "My mom passed two years ago."
I see I am not alone in noting this, having chased down the link in your post. Still, I had to say it, I just couldn't pass up (no, "pass" doesn't work here) the opportunity.
Few things irk me more. Ridiculous euphemism - "to pass away". Big joke in our family - entire clan has been forbidden, when the bus finally hits me, to say anything other than: "she died"
Delighted I'm not alone....
My late brother and I similarly joked about how much we both despised it, along with others like "made the transition," etc. Hence, when he got on my nerves, I'd threaten to write that he "crossed the rainbow" bridge in his obituary.
I regularly say someone "popped his/her/their clogs." It's a delightful (yes, I said that) way to say someone died, and so few Americans know or embrace it. When my time comes, that's how I want my obit to put it. xo
I do like "handed in his dinner pail" as a ephemism for "died", to the extent I've toyed with the idea of stipulating its use in any announcement of my own death, should such a thing ever prove necessary.
*Euphemism, for pity's sake.
Just a point of order/wonderment: I can edit, after the fact, any note (of mine, that is, not anyone else’s, that would be terrifying) or comment of mine on a note by clicking on the three dots I see off to the right.
Do you not have that option?
I don't seem to have. I have a vertical ellipsis at right below my comment that offers only the option to share, hide or delete.
Bummer. One of the things I appreciate here is my ability to silently correct myself. And Lord knows I make frequent use of that ability.
My Wordpress blog gives commenters absolutely no options once they’ve submitted. I, on the other hand, CAN edit their posts—a power I’ve used on request a couple of times, most recently because someone had madly overshared.
Interesting!
I can, here, delete commenters’ comments outright (which I used to have to do with some frequency before I put a paywall on the comments), but I can’t edit them.
(I have joked at Bluesky about wanting the ability to edit not only my own posted posts but other people’s as well, and the response from some people has been “I wish you could!” Of course there was the one person who thought I was being serious and threw an explosive tantrum.)
Same. I do not plan to pass, pass on, pass over, or pass away. I will die. I might even kick the bucket.
"Pass" always makes me think of pass/fail...and since everyone does it eventually, it seems neither of those applies.
“They don’t pass on, they don’t pass out, they don’t pass over, pass away, or roundabout.”
—”Something Is Coming to Tea,” from High Spirits
All I can think of is the Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch.
Back in olden days of print journalism and space counting for headlines, there’d have been no question— died
I am—with the utmost respect and politeness—going to disagree, at least a little bit. "Pass away" is a classic Southern expression, and it doesn't bother me in most contexts. Given Graham's status as an ostentatious professional Southerner, I don't even think the phrase is out of place in the headline, though like you, I would have changed it to "died" back in my copy-editing days. However, the shortened, even more Southern version—"Lindsey Graham passed"—I would change in any context since it makes the late senator sound like a kidney stone. "Passed" is best saved for conversation and not writing.
Most members of my family, and my wife’s, hate the passed away euphemism. My late brother in law, a newspaper reporter, hated it so much he asked before he died that this be etched in in his gravestone: “I could go at any time, but will not pass away.” But give me “passed away” every time over “crossed the rainbow bridge.”
Wow. Until today I thought it was genuinely Bette Davis. Thank you for clearing it up!
I am struggling to remember the title of a Lord Dunsany story that ended with a quote something like "...and so little did she appreciate her deliverance, that in the end she never died, but merely passed away at her residence." Unfortunately, Google is not helpful.
Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller:
And the only daughter of the Merchant Prince felt so little gratitude for this great deliverance that she took to respectability of a militant kind, and became aggressively dull, and called her home the English Riviera, and had platitudes worked in worsted upon her tea-cosy, and in the end never died, but passed away at her residence.