{"id":7987,"date":"2021-03-11T14:15:03","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T19:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=7987"},"modified":"2021-03-11T16:25:54","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T21:25:54","slug":"talking-about-death-in-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/talking-about-death-in-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Talking About Death in English"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_7988\" style=\"width: 661px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7988\" class=\"wp-image-7988\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/Death-817x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"651\" height=\"815\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/Death-817x1024.jpg 817w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/Death-279x350.jpg 279w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/Death-768x962.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/Death.jpg 1132w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 651px) 100vw, 651px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-7988\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay, CCO<\/p><\/div>\n<p>People don\u2019t want to talk about death. It\u2019s a difficult thing to discuss, but there are times when we must. It\u2019s especially hard for those who find themselves in a conversation that is not in their native language. No one wants to say the wrong thing in even the simplest situation. There is nothing simple about the subject of death and dying. Non-native speakers of English in the US will almost certainly have to talk about it with a native speaker at some time. Let\u2019s look at English vocabulary about death and dying.<\/p>\n<p>This is not a blog about the causes of death. Words like cancer, heart attack, and stroke are easy enough to understand but, in a conversation, not very important. It is not polite to ask a friend or family member how someone died. You might ask, \u201cWas it sudden?\u201d or, \u201cHad this person been ill?\u201d These questions show concern without a need for too much information.<\/p>\n<h4>Friends and family members of someone who has died may be referred to as:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Bereaved<\/li>\n<li>Loved Ones<\/li>\n<li>Survivors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As I said, it is such a difficult subject that we often avoid using the words death or dead.<\/p>\n<h4>There are many synonyms and phrases used in English to mean death. These include:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Deceased<\/li>\n<li>Passed away<\/li>\n<li>Passed on<\/li>\n<li>Left us<\/li>\n<li>Expired<\/li>\n<li>Moved on<\/li>\n<li>Eternal rest or Eternal sleep<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>In the US, we honor the dead with funerals or services. Some vocabulary you might need to know:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Burial \u2013 the act of burying the deceased in a cemetery<\/li>\n<li>Calling hours \u2013 a specific time for friends and family to pay their respects to the immediate family of the deceased<\/li>\n<li>Casket \u2013 a rectangular wooden box designed to hold the body for a funeral or cremation<\/li>\n<li>Cemetery \u2013 the place where a body is buried<\/li>\n<li>Coffin \u2013 similar to a casket, but tapered at the head and foot and wide at the shoulder area<\/li>\n<li>Cremation \u2013 burning the body to ashes<\/li>\n<li>Crematorium \u2013 a place specifically in business to cremate a body<\/li>\n<li>Death Certificate \u2013 the official document declaring that someone has died<\/li>\n<li>Embalm \u2013 to prepare a body for burial to prevent rapid decay, often for the purpose of displaying the body before burial<\/li>\n<li>Eulogy \u2013 an oration, or speech, delivered at a funeral remembering the life of the person who has died<\/li>\n<li>Final Resting Place \u2013 a synonym for a cemetery or, sometimes, the place where ashes are scattered following a cremation<\/li>\n<li>Funeral home \u2013 the location of a funeral, and where a body is prepared for burial or cremation<\/li>\n<li>Hearse \u2013 a vehicle that will transport the casket or coffin to the burial site<\/li>\n<li>Interment \u2013 the act or ceremony of burying a body or placing it inside a tomb<\/li>\n<li>Mausoleum \u2013 a large, free-standing building housing more than one tomb<\/li>\n<li>Mortician \u2013 the person responsible for preparing the body for embalming, burial, entombing, or cremation \u2013 often called an undertaker<\/li>\n<li>Obituary \u2013 written notice of the death of someone, usually including names of family and loved ones left behind and a brief biography<\/li>\n<li>Pallbearers \u2013 people charged with the responsibility of carrying the coffin or casket to the final burial location<\/li>\n<li>Services \u2013 the gathering of friends and family to commemorate the life and death of the deceased, often including a eulogy and religious readings and songs<\/li>\n<li>Tomb &#8211; a large vault, enclosed and often underground, to house the body of the deceased<\/li>\n<li>Urn \u2013 an ornamental vessel that holds the ashes of someone who has been cremated<\/li>\n<li>Wake \u2013 similar to services, but more informal and usually more secular and typically held the day before a funeral<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Phrases you might say to someone who is dealing with death:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>I am sorry for your loss<\/li>\n<li>Please accept my sincerest condolences<\/li>\n<li>You have my deepest sympathy<\/li>\n<li>I share in your sorrow<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Be polite, be respectful. Because we often don&#8217;t know what to say under these circumstances, remember that it is sometimes best to say as little as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"279\" height=\"350\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/Death-279x350.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/Death-279x350.jpg 279w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/Death-817x1024.jpg 817w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/Death-768x962.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2021\/03\/Death.jpg 1132w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 279px) 100vw, 279px\" \/><p>People don\u2019t want to talk about death. It\u2019s a difficult thing to discuss, but there are times when we must. It\u2019s especially hard for those who find themselves in a conversation that is not in their native language. No one wants to say the wrong thing in even the simplest situation. There is nothing simple&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/talking-about-death-in-english\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":7988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,135139,135370],"tags":[218973,2709],"class_list":["post-7987","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-english-language","category-english-vocabulary","tag-american-customs","tag-death"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7987"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7994,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7987\/revisions\/7994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}