--- title: Soft words for hard things: death and dying — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Soft words for hard things: death and dying», a lesson of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A euphemism is a soft or roundabout word we use instead of a plain word that feels too hard, rude or sad. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/) / Soft words for hard things: death and… # Soft words for hard things: death and dying Lesson 1 of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school: 25 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/0/) — A euphemism is a soft or roundabout word we use instead of a plain word that feels too hard, rude or sad. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/1/) — Death is the thing people soften most: at a funeral nobody says "Grandad is dead", they say "Grandad passed away" or "he is no longer with us", to be kind to the family. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/2/) — Other words for death do the opposite and joke about it: "kicked the bucket", "croaked" or "pushing up daisies" are rough and funny, fine for a dead goldfish or a film villain but hurtful at a real funeral. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/3/) — So the same fact, "he died", can be said kindly, formally, in old-fashioned words or as a joke, and a clever listener hears both what happened and how the speaker feels about it. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/4/) — Vivid example: when a teacher says "Sam's nan passed on at the weekend", nobody went anywhere; she died, and the teacher chose a gentle word. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/5/) — "Passed away" means died; it is the polite, kind word. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/6/) — "Passed on" means died; it is polite and gentle. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/7/) — "Passed", said alone ("his dad passed last year"), means died; it is common in everyday American speech. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/8/) — "Departed this life" means died; it is old-fashioned and found on old gravestones. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/9/) — "Kicked the bucket" means died; it is a joking, informal phrase. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/10/) — "Bought the farm" means died, often in a crash or in battle; it is American slang. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/11/) — "Pushing up daisies" means dead and buried; it is a joke about flowers growing on a grave. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/12/) — "Six feet under" means dead and buried, because graves were dug about six feet deep. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/13/) — "Bit the dust" means died, or was destroyed or broke; it is slang. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/14/) — "Croaked" means died; it is rough slang. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/15/) — "Shuffled off this mortal coil" means died; it comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet and is used jokingly. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/16/) — "Gone to a better place" means died; it is a kind phrase, often religious. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/17/) — "Lost" in "she lost her husband" means her husband died; nothing was mislaid. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/18/) — "No longer with us" means dead, not that the person moved away. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/19/) — "At rest" means dead; it is written on graves and in sympathy cards. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/20/) — "Gone to meet his maker" means died; "his maker" is God, and the phrase is often used jokingly. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/21/) — "Breathed his last" means died; it is old-fashioned and solemn. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/22/) — "The late" before a name ("the late Mr Jones") means that the person is dead; it does not mean he came late. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/23/) — "Laid to rest" means buried. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/24/) — "Final resting place" means a person's grave. - next →: [Soft words for hard things: death and dying](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/)