Dead People: Dead

[mercia]

......... joined the choir invisible .......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npjOSLCR2hE

[Nick Armstrong]

Just don't ask.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKTIe6piDOI

I agree that there is something.... untoward about the Mandryka "dead" formula. Yes it's literally true (and I can't all abide those euphemisms like 'passed over') but it's oddly brutal. I have a mental image of Mandy like some Dickensian villain, counting 'em off and inscribing the word "dead" with a touch of grim satisfaction.

I think the "Edmundo Ros (1910 - 2011)" is a very good and more seemly approach.

[Angle]

Mandryka seems to have found a purpose.


There is also, SHB,

"Dame Chlamidia Crumpet, the distinguished arts benefactoress ...

.. 'as fallen off 'er perch

.. 'as popped 'er clogs"

Any more?

And then, can we have done?

[salymap]

I remember London paper sellers always called out " so and so Dies", as though they hadn't quite got there.
But it's a little less depressing than the 'dead' that seems to have taken over these MBs.

Perhaps Mandy is an Undertaker.........

[Nick Armstrong]

Perhaps Mandy is an Undertaker.........

The thought had occurred, sal

[amateur51]

I agree that there is something.... untoward about the Mandryka "dead" formula. Yes it's literally true (and I can't all abide those euphemisms like 'passed over') but it's oddly brutal. I have a mental image of Mandy like some Dickensian villain, counting 'em off and inscribing the word "dead" with a touch of grim satisfaction.

Bit like this you mean, Caliban?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P85S_70oSOk

[Nick Armstrong]

Bit like this you mean, Caliban?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P85S_70oSOk

A lot like that

[vinteuil]

I remember London paper sellers always called out " so and so Dies", as though they hadn't quite got there.

... shades of Bossuet's Funeral Oration for Henriette-Anne d'Angleterre, duchesse d'Orléans [21 August 1670] -

"Nous devrions être assez convaincus de notre néant : mais s'il faut des coups de surprise à nos coeurs enchantés de l'amour du monde, celui-ci est assez grand et assez terrible. Ô nuit désastreuse ! ô nuit effroyable, où retentit tout à coup, comme un éclat de tonnerre, cette étonnante nouvelle : Madame se meurt ! Madame est morte !"

[Anna]

Is the only undertaker in Dickens' novels Mr. Sowerberry (Oliver Twist)?

Mr. Sowerberry was a tall, gaunt, large-jointed man, attired in a suit of threadbare black, with darned cotton stockings of the same colour, and shoes to answer. His features were not naturally intended to wear a smiling aspect, but he was in general rather given to professional jocosity. His step was elastic, and his face betokened inward pleasantry No, that's not ower Mandy.

I would prefer, rather than 'Dead' it should simply be: Joe Bloggs 1920-2011.

[Flosshilde]

I've always thought 'Edmundo Ros (1910 - 2011)' a very tasteful formula

A board headed 'obituary' would collect them all together, so that people could avoid facing the awful truth if they wish. Threads could simply be headed with the name of the person concerned.

Is there a middle ground between 'dead' & 'RIP'? Limbo, or purgatory, perhaps?


Sorry, Saly, I hadn't seen your earlier post

[handsomefortune]

mandryka an undertaker...but r3 mb obits reflect far too selective an approach for that to be the case, surely?

imagine what mandryka's funeral parlour would be like - presumably strewn with 'undead' lefties, passed over, in favour of celebrating and remembering the lives of proper rampant capitalist icons. the council would be round there like a flash ...for elf and safety reasons...(rather than political bias). if it is the case that mandryka's an undertaker, i hope that the undead come back, go shopping, haunt malls, as in sci fi film 'dawn of the dead'. in fact, i think i saw them in town earlier, lettin rip - so perhaps salymap's right!

not long till halloween, or 'all saints' day now .... or 'the day of the dead' as mexicans candidly put it, as compared to british euphemisms. meanwhile, the US revels in similar euphemisms, plus a roaring trade in 'smoking jackets' for 'boys' funerals, and 'negligees' for the 'girls'....and a whole range of tat for deceased pets ....so, perhaps we should count our blessings, not only that we are alive. but that we don't have to suffer (further) objectification, and infantalisation ...even at our own funeral!

[Ferretfancy]

The BBC used to have an obituaries department, stockpiling material in advance of the subject's demise. A tasteful obituary would be compiled, on the Queen Mum say, and as she lived on and on this would be updated at regular intervals.
Naturally, as each update was re-edited, the obit. got tattier and tattier from a technical point of view, but it didn't really matter because it was never shown. As soon as a well known figure died, News and Current Affairs would frantically scratch around for some recent stuff while the obit stayed on the shelf..

Incidentally, Flosshilde, I think that the Catholic Church has abolished Limbo, although they haven't got round to explaining what has become of its inhabitants. I think that Purgatory remains, but I'm not sure. Perhaps scottycelt can enlighten us ?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Is there a middle ground between 'dead' & 'RIP'? Limbo, or purgatory, perhaps?

... a "chirpily Breakfast-like "And the latest Clog-popper is ... ", perhaps?

[mercia]

Is the only undertaker in Dickens' novels Mr. Sowerberry (Oliver Twist)?

Mr Omer in David Copperfield

[french frank]

Mr Omer in David Copperfield

Allegedly, there was Mordecai Mould, in Chuzzlewit, though I don't remember him.