Obits - proper English?

[FlySince9]

So, what would my 6th grade English teacher have to say about this? I'm not sure, because she died. A long time ago

Well, she might have said:

One is the infinitive form of the verb: die
One is the simple past and participle form of the verb: died
One is the third person singular present form of the verb: dies
One is the adjective to describe a state of being: dead

That is, if she hadn't died....

 

[Palmpilot]

All this effort to explain something that is, in fact, proper English.

 

[paflyer]

I'm curious why the phrase is "gone West"? Living in Florida, AKA "God's waiting room", I would think "Gone South" would be more appropriate. I guess that going West, to California is a certain type of death though.

Into the setting Sun.

 

[gkainz]

I'll know I'm really old when 1. I actually care about the contents of this thread and 2. I actually read obituaries on a regular basis.

My dad used to say he read the obituaries to see if he was in them, in order to know how to plan his day

 

[FlySince9]

My dad used to say he read the obituaries to see if he was in them, in order to know how to plan his day

Mine too.... Also that he wanted to go peacefully, in his sleep, like his Grandfather, and not screaming in terror like the other people riding in the car he was driving...

 

[Sundancer]

I hate it when people verb their nouns. . .

 

[SkyDog58]

Into the setting Sun.

That is one explanation that I have heard over the years.

The other is that during WW1, the battle front ran basically north-south with the axis on the east side and the allies on the west. So when an allied soldier would die, they'd send him back west. So, the term "gone west" was born. Aviators changed it to "flown west" over the years.

 

[FastEddieB]

I think putting it in the present tense give a headline of timeliness.

“Supreme Court Rules in Gun Rights Case” sounds more intersting and timely than “The Supreme Court Ruled in Gun Rights Case”. The latter makes it seem like yesterday’s news (which it very well may have been).

So, I think it’s a conscious decision to phrase it the way they do.

Clearly nothing new:

 

[FastEddieB]

Oh, and sometimes punctuation matters...

 

[paflyer]

That is one explanation that I have heard over the years.

The other is that during WW1, the battle front ran basically north-south with the axis on the east side and the allies on the west. So when an allied soldier would die, they'd send him back west. So, the term "gone west" was born. Aviators changed it to "flown west" over the years.

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/334078/origin-of-the-phrase-go-west-to-die