--- 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: Not every euphemism for death is meant to be kind; some are meant to hide or to sound tough. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/) [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 2 of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school: 24 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/2-death-official-and-slang/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/0/) — Not every euphemism for death is meant to be kind; some are meant to hide or to sound tough. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/1/) — Hospitals, armies and governments use cold official words, such as "negative patient outcome" or "collateral damage", so that a death sounds like a number in a report instead of a person. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/2/) — Gangsters in films use slang such as "whacked" or "sleeping with the fishes" to talk about murder without saying the word. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/3/) — Every country also has its own jokey words: an English person "popped his clogs", an Australian "carked it", an American "cashed in his chips". - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/4/) — Vivid example: a general who says "the target was neutralized" means that people were killed, but the words make it sound like switching off a machine. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/5/) — "Loved one", in the speech of funeral companies, means the dead person. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/6/) — "The departed" means the dead person or the dead people; it is polite. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/7/) — "Negative patient outcome" is American hospital jargon for "the patient died". - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/8/) — "Collateral damage" is official military language for ordinary people killed or property destroyed by accident in an attack. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/9/) — "Neutralized" in official military or police talk means killed. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/10/) — "Taken out" in slang means killed on purpose. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/11/) — "Whacked" is American gangster slang for murdered. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/12/) — "Sleeping with the fishes" is American gangster slang for murdered and dumped in water. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/13/) — "Slipped away" means died quietly and peacefully. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/14/) — "Gave up the ghost" means died; it is also said jokingly of a machine that stops working for good. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/15/) — "Popped his clogs" means died; it is humorous British English. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/16/) — "Carked it" means died; it is Australian slang. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/17/) — "Cashed in his chips" means died; it is American slang taken from card games. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/18/) — "Went west" means died or was destroyed; it is old-fashioned British English. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/19/) — "Lost her battle with cancer" means she died of cancer. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/20/) — "Succumbed to his injuries" means he died of his injuries; it is used in official reports and the news. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/22/) — "Expired" means died; it is medical or official jargon (a ticket or a carton of milk can also "expire"). - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/23/) — "Crossed over" means died; it is a gentle, often spiritual phrase. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/2-death-official-and-slang/24/) — "Called home" means died; it is used in American religious talk, meaning called home to God. - ← previous: [Soft words for hard things: death and dying](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/1-death-polite-and-joking/) - next →: [Soft words for hard things: death and dying, illness and the body](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/3-death-and-feeling-poorly/) - ↑ back to [Euphemisms](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/)