60 Euphemisms for Death! | Otherwords
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- Опубликовано: 9 май 2024
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No topic is as universally avoided--yet universally unavoidable--as DEATH. So, it's got a lot of euphemisms in virtually every language.
Otherwords is a new PBS web series on Storied that digs deep into this quintessential human trait of language and fınds the fascinating, thought-provoking, and funny stories behind the words and sounds we take for granted. Incorporating the fıelds of biology, history, cultural studies, literature, and more, linguistics has something for everyone and offers a unique perspective into what it means to be human.
hosted by Dr. Erica Brozovsky, Ph.D.
written by Dr. Erica Brozovsky, Ph.D. & Andrew Matthews
directed by Andrew Matthews & Katie Graham
produced by Katie Graham
animated & edited by Andrew Matthews
executive producer Amanda Fox
fact checker Yvonne McGreevy
Assistant Director of Programming (PBS): Niki Walker
Executives in Charge (PBS): Adam Dylewski, Jess Kasza
music by APM
images by Shutterstock
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I think Americans these days just say "he's finally free from his student loans."
Too contrived.
The cleaner the better. "Paid off his (student) loans" or something sweeter works better. Also too negative.
Left loans behind? Dropped their college clothes? Paid the prof?
@@nightthought2497 Found a job in his chosen field lmao
@@maxpulido4268 OMGawd, how dare you hit me with this perfection‽
@@maxpulido4268 dude.... this hits hard
Evangelicals “went to the other side.” This explains why the chicken road joke was so funny: “Get to the other side” meant “died.”
i'm 22 years old and i have literally never understood that joke until now
@@Frosting1000 same right down to my age
I am 34 and I was like "Oooooooohhhhhh."
I think the joke would work better with a highway. I always imagined a quiet suburban street.
to die. alone. in the rain. -Hemingway
@@tigerwolf2243 You need to imagine a dirt Road Town with a lot of horses.
You "killed it" with this topic. It was both entertaining and well done. 👍
Nice one, and thanks! - Dr. B
I see what you died there.
@@pbsstoried Theres heaps, but theres a bigger list for sex! You should do that list!
This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! He's passed on. He’s gone to meet his maker. He’s run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. He’s pushing up the daisies, he's a stiff, bereft of life. He's snuffed it. He rests in peace. He's bleedin' demised! This is an ex parrot!
‘The choir invisible’ that one alway got me 😂 I think I’ll get that put on my gravestone
He's pining for the fjords!
Don't forget "He's ceased to exist." Lol
He's gone to meet Doctor Chapman
*looks up, gives the thumb*
He rests in peace. Doesn't sound like a euphemisms anymore. Like how when I say "brand new" you don't imagine a wooden brand that'll make some very new food.
i love how in chilean spanish we say someone LEFT FOR THE COURTYARD OF THE SILENT ONES and in english it *sounds* ominous but we just mean it like "lol he dead"
Ha ha yeah that sounds pretty ominous and epic to me!
Very ominous. Who are these silent ones and what's in their courtyard? 🙊☠️
HAHA! ''se fue al patio de los callaos''. That's a good one comrade xD
"wanna become legend you perkin ql?"
Very creepy
Monty Python’s Dead Parrot sketch was my first introduction to the many euphemisms for death. Thank you John Cleese.
It is a PAST parrot
ruclips.net/video/vnciwwsvNcc/видео.html
Have you ever tasted the salmon mousse?
BEST. SKETCH.EVER!!!
Pining for the Fjords is the one I like best.
When I worked at the library, when a patron came up the to the counter, sometimes I'd ask them if they were ready to check out. One older man answered, "Boy, I sure hope not!"
Haha! Pure gold
🤣
I like in "A Knight's Tale" when they said "His spirit is gone but his stench remains."
Some famous dysphemism in Brazil are "eating grass by the root" and "becoming a ham".
I think we have some kind of messy dark humor.
Becoming a ham lmao
We have a lot of humorous ones, "button up the suit", "wear the wooden pajamas", "ate grass by the roots", "joined the land of feet put together", "stretched the ankles", "became glitter", "had his ID cancelled", "clicked the heels", "joined the upper floor", "got boxed", "taken by the lord", "took the call of Gabriel".
@@MrKlausbaudelaire who's Gabriel is he like the ring girl
@@sepsysmurf6982 the Archangel Gabriel.
@@MrKlausbaudelaire i am definitely using these instead of the plain one in my language that is “left the world”
"Let out a cold fart" is a nice (?) one from Finland.
I heard the "bought a farm" was used for soldiers who got killed, and had an insurance enabling relatives to, buy a farm.
Yes
Hehehe, I'll never use that.
Thank you for informing me of the "cold fart" phrase.. I highly approve of it and will be adding it to my lexicon of terms for death.
In Portugal we say "let out the master fart"
The buy a farm one is hilarious lol
I still like “kicked the oxygen habit” best.
I’d love a video like this for all the euphemisms for insanity. There’s so many unique and creative ones such as ‘not playing with a full deck’ or ‘the lights not being on upstairs.’
i second this suggestion, however both examples are, to my mind, not euphemisms for insanity, but for some form of developmental disability, especially intellectual disability. having "a couple screws loose" comes to mind as a more common euphemism for madness/insanity (neither exactly proper medico-psychiatric nomenclature, of course). a particularly interestingly idiomatic meta-euphemism is the expression "curl my hair and brush my teeth", a no-doubt obsolete juvenile idiom translating into speech what it would kind of look like one is pantomiming if they were to make a circular gesture around the side of their head while pointing at someone covertly, a silent or secretive way of calling someone "loopy", which is of course a euphemism with a somewhat loopy etymology i won't get into -- but suffice it to say the successive kind of telephonic layers of encryption is itself a bit insane
as kids we somehow misconstrued "throw into the woods" as a euphemism for death. it originated from how we'd throw rotten vegetables off the back porch and a misunderstanding from burying a dead pet hamster in the backyard woods but the phrase stuck and now it's still something our family uses as a euphemism for death.
Well, the woods are often linked to/used as a metaphor for death so it frankly makes a lot of sense.
I love when families and friend groups have their own colloquialisms
How do you phrase this? Like "he was thrown into the woods"?
This would have been a fun crossover with Caitlin Doughty...Well done as a solo exploration of the words we use to deny mortality.
I find their lack of Caitlin Doughty disturbing
I think she's probably pretty busy :(
@@ZedaZ80 yeah. I imagine that she probably is.
@@ZedaZ80 Very true, alas. I think the last video I saw of her, she did say she was struggling.
In the Atlanta music community, we “lost” a well known piano player (to natural causes) right before we went into Covid lockdown. We loved him, but we joked that he really knew “when to fold ‘em.”
You left out the most colorful one of all: to "become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
In Mexico a common expression is "se petateó," which derives from the Aztec tradition to wrap the body of a deceased person in the mat they used to sleep on, called "petate." But perhaps the most interesting and unapologetic idiomatic expression is "chupó faros" (they sucked lighthouses, if translated literally). Rumor has it that it originated during the Mexican Revolution, when those executed by firing squad would be offered a cigarette of a cheap brand called Faros (lighthouses in Spanish)... You get the idea. 😆😅😳
Interesting. Now the name of "el chupacabra" - "the goat-sucker" - makes more sense. :)
No sabia que chupo faros venia de la Revolucion! The more you know right?
colgó los tenis
"colgar los tenis" (hang the sneakers) and "salir con los pies por delante" (leaving feet first) are also two phrases commonly used in Mexico
Also "Lo cafetearon" (They coffee-ed him/her). Coffee is the most common beverage served in funerals.
I love "joined the choir invisible!" I had no idea about that one. Thanks!
"Se fue de gira" (he's gone on tour), a popular euphemism for artists in Argentina.
It's funny that internet content moderation has also brought us some euphemisms like "unalived" or "game-ended"
A few good Swedish ones:
Take down the sign
Bite the grass
Walk out of time
Put on the wooden tux
Pop round the corner
Fall off the branch
Turn your nose to the weather
German also refers to biting the grass!
Wow! I really like "walk out of time". Never heard it before now but it really puts a surreal twist on death, because we are leaving reality and all of it's constructs no longer apply.
I love "bite the grass"!
I LOVE "walk out of time"
Walk out of time sounds so good and it makes sm sense omg wish we had that in my language. In my language there isn't much sayings about death that makes it sound less bad. We just be like "well they are dead" and accept the bad reality i guess idk. It's probably about our religion too. Cuz we believe that death is not an end, but a beginning of something beautiful. So we just wish mercy upon them and pray for them, that's pretty much it.
I know “(so-and-so) is cadaverrific” hasn’t caught on yet, but l hope it does soon.
-“Kent, if you had one word to describe how dead he is, what wouldn’t be?”
-“Cadaverrific!”
Dragon Ball Z Abridged
I knew it was only a matter of time until you showed up on this video
Sounds like an infomercial slogan. “It’s cadaverrific!”
Thanks. Now I can get around every censor.
Also, "Now put on your wooden pajamas and use the Earth as a blanket" sounds way more metal than it should.
my at the time 98 year old neighbor who refused to go to a retirement home used to always say “ik verlaat dit huis alleen tussen zes plankjes”, which translates to “i’ll only leave this house between six planks” (referring to a coffin). i really like how blunt that saying is.
Other Mexican Euphemism include:
Esta con la huesuda (Its with the bony one)
Cruzo el rio con los perros (Crossed the river with dogs, Aztecs believe when you die all the dogs you owned and helped in your life Help you cross the river to the other side, If you were bad you cross alone and chances are you will be drag by the current)
Dog myths are my favorite.
Is the Bony One a euphemism for Death, like the Grim Reaper?
@@cramerfloro5936 maybe Santa Muerte?
@@cramerfloro5936 Yeah I dunno how to properly say it but here we have our own death representation and we call her "La Huesuda" or "La Catrina"
@@Genzafel I already knew of la Catrina, hadn't heard that name for her yet. Thank you! :-D
what about Shakespeare's "shuffle off this mortal coil"?
I feel like it's neither a euphemism nor dysphemism, it's just a really dramatic way to refer to death.
I prefer the Stephen King's "The Clearing at the End of the Path"
My favourite phrase.
@@eoincampbell1584 it is a euphemism, but it’s not a common one. I’ve only ever heard it used by Shakespeare in that one context. I don’t know, would you say, of your aunt who died, she shuffled off her mortal coil? Is that respectful or disrespectful?
It's one of favorite ones
In Beijing, a tour guide for the Forbidden City kept using “kicked bucket” to refer to any death. So, when describing how the emperor would chose his heir, he began with “When Emperor kicked bucket…”
He was a great tour guide. I hope he’s still doing well!
In the part of germany I'm from we say that someone is "Weg vom Fenster". It translates to "Away from the window". It is connected to all the coal mines in the area. The miners often had lung problems from all the coal dust they inhaled over the years . To get more fresh air into their damaged lungs they would spend a lot of time leaning out of their windows. So when someone died he was "away from the window."
A native Finn here, and I notice that many of these trends you describe hold true even in my language. We say that someone "heitti veivinsä" that is "tossed (away) his crank" or "heitti lusikan nurkkaan" which means "threw his spoon into a corner" or somewhat perplexingly, "potkaisi tyhjää" which means "kicked at nothing (lit. kicked empty)".
My favorite is "siirtyä ajasta ikuisuuteen", literally "to pass from time into eternity." Very poetic!
@@Tmpp88 Also a quite 'poetic' euphemism in Finnish would be "Päästää kylmä pieru" -- "To let out a cold fart"
I just now remembered another one: "muutti kiviaidan sisäpuolelle" = "moved to the inside of the stone fence". I believe it comes from the fact that well into the 20th century most churchyards in rural Finland were surrounded by a stone fence, where fields and farmyards were separated by simple wooden fences.
My favorite Finnish one is "heitti lenkkarit seinään" (threw his running shoes at the wall) and "vaihtoi hiippakuntaa" (moved to a new clan/ switched clans)
I like it when people say that the dead are just a carcass (raato) Very blunt and Finnish.
"Here lies Ridire. He died doing what he loved... Living."
Imma steal this
"Here lies Lester Moore. Shot with four rounds from a .44. No Les (less), no more."
I want that one.
In Brazil (where im from) we have another saying that is basically “Im gonna delete your CPF” which is our equivalent to a social security number, although it relates more to assasination rather than death itself
"Woke up on the wrong side of the grass" is an American southernism I've heard.
This series is so unbelievably good.
Psychopomp is the best thing I learned today, thanks for the fun video.
There's a game (After Party) set in hell, where psychopomps are the taxi drivers
@@SamButler22 Well.... that is essentially their function...(in all seriousness, Respect to all the psychopomps)
We have a saying here in Greece too about death that has to do with flowers. It goes like " he/she's watching the grass from below ( or upside down)"😅.
Also I love how our mythology has contributed to this major thing and history called Death. Even with just the Greek word Thanatos!! 🔥💀
In the UK and Ireland we have pushing up daisies, I like that one
I love this implied Sediq idea implied in the yam-planting metaphor euphemism that the dead go into the earth not simply to sleep there or pass into it or move through it to some beyond place, but to plant the yams which, like the dead, go through unseen processes in the ground. It's nice to connect the otherwise passive-seeming dead to something actively nurturing for the living. And they do provide fertilizer, so it's less of a farfetched metaphor than it seems, I guess.
Some languages have euphemisms for the death of particular animals, like in South Indian language Malayalam, on its death, an elephant is said to have "cherinju" or "lied down on its side ('cherinju' just means 'leaned to a side', but in this context I think they mean lying down on the ground)"
In Hebrew we also have "went to his (own) world" and the uniquely Jewish "got rid", short for "got rid of the burden of Mitzvahs", as dead people are no longer under the obligation.
edit: there's some discussion below about the first of the two. Read it, it's interesting!
The "got rid" one is sort of funny, like people are tired of religious obligations.
@@TheLuckyBubu With over 600 commandments I'd be tired too lol somedays it's all I can do to not murder haha
@@naomistarlight6178 That's hilarious! :D I had no idea there were 600 commandments... Is this like from all of the Torah?
@@TheLuckyBubu 613 from the Torah itself, to be precise. Plus all sorts of expansions, exemptions, etc. Jewish canon is very... litigative...
The own there is misplaced. Halakh Le'Olamo means 'went to HIS world', as in the lord's world.
There is also "went to a world whose all good" (heaven) and even better "went to the next world", which always made me feel like some sort of multi-level game :P
I’ve always liked “taken a long walk off a short pier” and “a short drop with a sudden stop”
“This stupid dog won’t die” came out of nowhere and I should’n’t have laughed but I did. 🤣 I didn’t expect that. Very educational video. Thank you!
In Brazil we have one that I don't think I can translate very accurately: "ir desta para melhor". Something like "going from this (one) to (a) better (one)". Not sure if it refers to going from "this life" to a "better one", or if maybe it's just "going from here to (someplace) better".
Also, since this is Brazil we're talking about, it sounds kinda optimistic, but I usually take it as a lightly or heavily ironic remark, which... kinda makes it simultaneously a dysphemism and an euphemism?
fiquei pensado em como traduzir 'partiu pra terra dos pé junto"
In Italy, we also say "passato a miglior vita" which means "passed to a better life"
We have the same one in English "he/she has gone to a better place".
Honestamente sei como começar a traduzir "cancelar o CPF" kkk
@@anamelo2548 só dizer "Had his ID cancelled"
its really interesting how the language around death changes and evolves in every culture, which makes sense since every culture relates to death differently. im glad to know now that there is an opposite of euphemism with dysphemisms!
in Russia we have dysphemisms like "сыграть в ящик" (play the box, i.e. to get into the coffin), "отбросить копыта" (drop the hooves), "дать дуба" (something like "to become wooden" or "wooden up") and "приказать долго жить" (to order [those who still live] to live long).
When I was learning French, it was always funny to me that there was this difference between French and English where you couldn't literally translate the phrase "I'm Finished" as in "Look, Teacher, I'm finished my work!" into "I am finished" in French. Instead you'd say I "have" finished, which is also correct, though a tad less common in English, because, in French "I am finished" means "I am dead." That really makes more sense lingually, I suppose,--post-death is a the only time finished is not an action taken, but a state of being (more precisely, not being.) I wonder how it came to be that way in English. French seems not to have any easy equivalent to the English "E-D" ending on verbs, but where did English get this handy past-tense-maker, if not from there? Learning other languages, you realize, English is actually bizarrely unintuitive.
Wouldn't the distinction be between:
_Je suis fini._ (I am finished) vs
_J'y suis fini._ (I have finished (that task))?
The ambiguity exists in English as well. "I'm finished", "I'm done (for)", can be euphemisms for death or failure as well as expressing completion.
@@Vasharan Sort of. But I associate those more with business failure and other big life ventures gone wrong. It usually isn't death per say in the same way. Which--again--makes less sense than the French way .
Huh, I had never considered dysphemisms as their own thing before. I think I used to just call them "rude euphemisms" before
Storied: Putting the **fun** in *funeral*
One i came up with myself (that others may or may not have come up with before me, ive never heard anyone say it but i havent looked it up either lol) is “theyre enjoying the pomegranates” referencing the story of Hades and Persephone from Greek myth, which basically insinuates pomegranates are native to the underworld lol
I genuinely don’t know how common this one is but once I heard one of my grandparents say “se lo llevo la macacoa” which literally translates to “bad luck took him/her/them away,” since the word macacoa is used in Puerto Rican Spanish as a synonym for bad luck.
I'm from Portugal and I NEVER heard that one with the mangos. We euphemisms we use more are, "bater as botas" (Kick the boots), "comer alfaces pela raíz" ( eating letuces by the root) and "ir para os anjinhos" ( go to the angels/ little angels)
Pela referência á manga, cheira-me que, como de costume, é mais uma confusão com o português do brasil.
Em 32 anos de vida brasileira, nunca ouvi essa expressão das mangas, tampouco.
@@Rahru sendo a manga tropical, imaginei que pudesse originar do brasil. Neste caso, se não é PT-PT nem PT-BR, é donde? :D
@@HotSkorpion Fui dar uma olhada e a fruta é nativa do sul/sudeste asiático, também tropical. E ela passou a ser cultivada também em Moçambique e Angola, dois países com português como língua oficial. Pode ter vindo de um deles.
@@HotSkorpion Angola? Não sei se tem manga aí...
That bought the farm/bought the plot could perhaps refer to the surface of a fresh grave looking like a tilled field...?
I always thought it was related to the lie about sending animals to live on a farm. Animals get sent there, people just buy it 🤷♂️
@@Richard_Nickerson I heard it came from WWI, the money sent by the government as compensation was used to fully pay off the farm land the now deceased soldier's family lived on.
@@MysteriumArcanum
I guess that makes sense. Sarcastically saying he bought the farm by providing the money through death sounds like a good way for some old fashioned Great War coping.
Given British WWI air pilots would have been from rich families I'd bet that common people buy a plot so they would have to buy the whole farm!
As someone who doesn't understand social rules, is often told I'm too blunt and rude for it, and who never really had to attend funerals in my childhood, I appreciate the heads up at the start of the video.
Oh, l didn't know popping one's clogs was to pawn them. The Danish version is "to put your clogs away". I remember an old Danish radio sketch which is all about a rough man and a priest discussing the arrangement of a funeral via euphemisms. The priest had a good one l've never forgotten or seen since: "Oh, l see: He's gone to the place where none return from."
"Den Löffel abgeben" - In German we say "Submit (?) the spoon", as in the early days, more or less everybody seems to have an own spoon. Since you're dead, you won't need this anymore.
Interesting! In many German-American families it's customary to give a newborn baby a spoon. I still have my mother's baby spoons given to her by her father's family.
@Kot-Kojote The custom might be Swabian. My mother's immigrant ancestor came from Baden. The German community in Texas is mostly Swabian. I also have an ancestor who came over from Germany much earlier to work as a mercenary in the American Revolution. He ended up working in George Washington's personal guard. Back when Washington was general of the Continental Army, he had a bodyguard corps of foreign soldiers. Washington wanted soldiers who didn't speak English so they could not become spies. He spoke to them in French.
That could also explain the "born with a silver spoon in his mouth." A phrase meaning being born rich.
I just read someone from Sweden say "threw his spoon out the window". This adds an extra layer of understanding.
There's also another category of how people perceive death. In Kazakh, the single most popular to talk about someone dying is to say that they "had their return trip". It alludes to the popular concept of "we all are just guests in this world".
I’m a vet and one of our euphemisms we used for a while for a euthanized pet was “moved to Vermont” often followed by “I’ve heard it’s lovely this time of year” (a way for us all not to get too sad hearing about a deceased patient while we’re trying to work and get through our day)
you missed some of the fun ones around cremation. i think my three favorite are: "they're sifting the soot", "They turned the coals", and "leave on that longship". my great grandmother on her death bed spoke the first italian in 40 years qouting "lasciami sulla pira" or leave me on the pyre... i miss you Nona but you had had one cynical cheeky sense of humor.
You really know how to put the "fun" in funeral, says Harley Quinn!
Hashtag Memento Mori
Memento Mori is the name of a Depeche Mode album!
The Caitlin Doughty influence is strong with this one
When I first saw the title, I thought it was one of her videos. :)
I'll bet Death Mother could add quite a few death euphemisms here . . . .
I'd marry Caitlin.. She's adorable, morbid, funny and I'd know my carcass would be well cared for when I shrug off this mortal coil.
In Italian we have also a couple more dysphemisms about dying:
"Tirare le cuoia" (pull the leathers) and "lasciarci le penne" (leaving the feathers there). To be honest I don't know their origins but they are quite widespread.
sounds related to tanning and plucking birds
"Tirare le cuoia" comes from the rigor mortis after death, because the skin tightens and becomes like hide
@@jacopolonfernini8734
Yeah that makes sense
in Old Turkic, there is a saying "kergek bolmak" which is "gerek olmak" in modern Turkish and roughly translates to "being needed". So when a person is dead, they are needed but they are not there anymore.
Ben neden bunu hiç duymadım :o
Türkiye Türkçesinde kullanılmayan bir söz herhalde?
That's quite different than a lot of these. Interesting perspective.
Well done! I've heard/used "singing with the angels," "gone to the ancestors," and "graduated."
my friend likes to say a dead person has "become an ancestor"
Highly recommend following this video up with Monty Python's dead parrot sketch for a more.... theatrical presentation of death euphemisms..
1:21 or even "Yo Bro, Daniel just committed unliving"
Other media like anime and video games have also used some euphemisms for death, especially when it comes to mind that a lot of young audiences are exposed to these types of things in said media.
Yu-Gi-Oh's English 4Kids dub has "the shadow realm" be a common euphemism for death during the show's run. Another euphemism for it is "sleeping under the tree on the hill" from Super Mario Galaxy's extra story, _Rosalina's Storybook._
In the philippines, at least in my particular region/dialect, the old folks call it "when my feet are aligned". It could belong that category of euphimisms about the situation/position of the body when it's burried.
"Picking turnips with a step ladder", or "started playing the harp" are some of my faves.
haven't heard the harp one in ages, never heard the turnip one to my knowledge
0:30 Well, we can't talk about it later.
I saw in a movie where a guy says, "You have to come with me or you will be late."
They guy says, "Late for what."
The other one says, "Well, it's sort of a threat. You will be late. As in the "Late Arthur Dent."
1:27, it's a very interesting term used in Egyptian Arabic here. Whereas "his soul" typically translates as "rohu", here it is "wad'ethu", which means more like "his light".
In Assassins Creed 4, after the death of one of the most important characters, the main character says (when asked what happened to his friend): he drinks damnation.
Which is a phrase extracted from one of the Solomon chapters in the Bible.
Oo
I’m wheezing, perfect use of that Thor Ragnorok clip😹😹😹
in German you bite into the grass instead of biting the dust. Swimming with the fishes becomes 'he's fish fodder' in German. 'Ableben' is kind of difficult to translate even though the word itself is very clear and simple in German
In my church they say, "They have been promoted to life triumphant. "
If we think about life as a vidéo game, we can also say: "Went back to the main menu to start a new game", "reset", "he/she is going to respawn" (talking about reincarnation) and many other terms about death from video games including one based on Dark Souls "Praised the sun for the last time" or "did his/her last praise to the sun"!
for Touhou
did a 1CC of Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom
got scolded by Eiki
met the Lunarians
arm wrestling with Saki
chilling with Satori
executed by Yuyuko / mukbanged with Yuyuko
sealed with the Saigyou Ayakashi
took a selfie
tried to capture "Pristine Danmaku Hell"
got into the basement of the SDM
they said PAD
met Reimu
HAX SIGN "FANTASY HEAVEN"
became a toy for Tenshi
"Yukari is really-GAPPED"
I'M RIGHT BEHIND YOU
insulted the Kannushi
played the Extra Mode
In spanish "Mas cerca del harpa que de la guitarra" is my favorite, it means "closer to the harp than the guitar"
I'll always remember what my grandfather said right before he kicked the bucket. He said, "how far do you think I can kick this bucket?"
Brazilian death related euphemisms:
They Hit the boots
(Bateu as botas)
They went from this to a better one
(Foi dessa pra melhor)
They are with heavenly daddy now
(Ta com o papai do céu agora)
They went out to eat grass by the roots
(Foi comer capim pela raíz )
Came to an obit
(Veio a óbito)
Slept the sleep of the fair
(Dormiu o sono dos justos)
They has left our material plane
(Deixou esse nosso plano material)
Completed their's mission
(Cumpriu sua missão)
Became a ham
(Virou presunto)
Packed themself
(Empacotou)
Stretched their shins
(Esticou as canelas)
___________________________
(Povo do Brasil me ajuda se souber de mais)
The sleep of the justs isnt a metaphor for death. It just means a easy sleep, because the unjusts would have troubled sleep being haunted by their guilty and sins.
Dr. B hit the nail on the coffin again with another fantastic episode just in time for Halloween. How could you ever not simp for this queen??
A few more Portuguese euphemisms for anyone curious:
Left for a better life;
Buttoned the jacket;
Slept the sleep of the righteous;
Ate grass by the roots;
Fulfilled their mission;
Made the last trip;
Gone to the land of feet together;
Turned into ham;
Stretched the shins;
Turned glitter" (in case of homosexuals);
It was studying botany from below;
God took;
Dispatched the alley.
Sleep of the rigtheous isnt death, its just a easy sleep. In opposition to impius who have theirs dreams haunted by guilty.
buttoned the jacket is a little baffling.
@@joaojeffersoncavalcantiwan812 my translation might be flawed.
I like the @4:36 bought a pine condo
The food for worms 🤣
"Picking turnips with a step ladder" and "Groundhogs are bringin' you your mail" from one Ernest P. Worrell are my favorite.
groundhogs is new to me!
"Taking a dirt nap" is one of my favorite phrases for death.
I'm from the UK and say popped his clogs a lot
@@wentoneisendon6502 I'm American, and have heard "popped his clogs". That particular saying has "made it across the pond", to use another euphemism.
In Spain we say "le sacaron con los pies por delante" (he was taken out with his feet looking forward) because of the position the casket is while leaving the house
Ha we say the same in French, you spared me writing it thanks haha
Gosh, I love these videos. I really enjoy the audio/video. Makes it a lot easier to understand. PBS is doing such an amazing job and so is the Dr.! Please keep this going
“in a (bleedin’) wooden onesie” is by far my favorite
I really like how you *classify* (ie, categorize) the euphemisms (and dysphemisms).
We also have "tussen 6 plankjes" in the Netherlands which translates to "between 6 boards"
This series continually impresses. Expertly presented, interesting, and well edited. Thank you!
My favorite "Storied" presenter! I love everything about they way you present these stories & etymologies that have fed the zeitgeists throughout our shared history. You get so meta with this stuff ❤ Thanks Doc, please never stop making videos... at least until you or I leave the building, although if I hit the parking lot first, don't stop on my account. Wait, did I just coin another Euphemism? "The parking lot of the forget me not".
My favorite euphemism is: "He ain't gon' be in Rush Hour 3!"
Kick the bucket has always been so funny to me because in my language it just means to like lose control, or give something up. As an idiom for dying, we use an expression that would translate to something like knocking boots, which is also hilarious.
Two of my favorite phrases not listed are:
Taking a long call in the horizontal phone-booth.
Riding or Driving a brass handled Cadillac.
In Vienna there there are phrases like "he rode tram 71" or "the last trip with the 71" or even the threat "I will send you home on the 71!" Tram 71 ends at Vienna's central cemetary :P
Also -- a random thought in my head, if you do word specifically (at least in American English) and someone asks 'what happened to so and so' saying 'he died' is acceptable but 'he's dead' comes off as more dismissive and crass
Another one I've seen used in memes: to get in the forever box (usually in imperative, with what always read to me as an implication of live burial)
3:40, To be honest, that sounds like the most horrible thing you could possibly do.
I've never seen this channel, but by *god* do I love how you talk about words.
I was 99% sure before watching the vid that you guys would miss the Vietnamese idiom for death. And now I'm 100% sure after watching it. :-D
In Vietnamese, someone who is dead can be said to "sell salt" (bán muối / buôn muối).
There are 2 explanations for the phrase that I have heard.
(1) The Sino-Vietnamese words for salt and Yama (Buddhist god of death) are homophones (both are "diêm" as in "diêm tiêu" and "Diêm Vương").
(2) In the old ages, salt was a heavily-controlled goods, monopolised by the state with sellers punishable by death. So if you (a commoner) go and sell salt, you might as well want to be dead (and thus is dead).
It's not that common outside of references to FFVII, but "return to the planet" is one that refers to the body's fate while still sounding nice.
"Turned in to past tense" is my personal favourite
I was waiting for that phrase, "Pushin' up the daisies". I was not disappointed. I also couldn't help chuckling over "pine pajamas". I also heard the expression, "pine overcoat". Also like the outtakes when Dr. Brozovsky got laughing fits.
The equivalent to "Pine overcoat" in French is "Redingote en sapin" (redingote is an old word for an overcoat, from the English "riding-coat").