wide array of death euphemisms

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Sep 1, 2004, at 11:14 AM, Grant Barrett wrote:

> ...I am less concerned with our correspondent's lack of punctuation,
> capitals, correct orthography, and decorum because I understood her
> message to be "do a lot of work for me for no explained reason." That,
> in itself, is enough reason to ignore her...

yes, that's the annoying part, and this has nothing to do with the
asker's age.

my briefest response would be a pointer to some relevant literature,
e.g.

Allan, Keith & Kate Burridge. 1991. Euphemism and dysphemism: Language
used as shield and weapon. Oxford: O U P.

(though i have to confess that such references are often met with the
objection that the asker has no access to a library that would have the
books and no money to buy them.)

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)