Let’s Stop “Passing” and Start Dying Again

I’ve had it with people “passing.” When someone dies, let’s not be afraid to say it: they’ve died. One thing they certainly haven’t done is “passed.” That doesn’t even make sense.

Unless you’re talking about a card game, “pass” is a transitive verb. It must have an object. One has to pass something. The football. The salt. The cemetery on the way to the hospital.

Of course I understand that when people say “pass” instead of “die” they’re using a shortened form of “pass away” or “pass on.” I’ve never liked those venerable euphemisms either, but they at least have the virtue of making some sort of sense. If you believe in an afterlife, passing away or passing on suggests transition from one place to another.

Merely to “pass,” on the other hand, means squat.

So if you simply must use a euphemism for the perfectly good, entirely inoffensive, and absolutely clear verb “to die,” use one of them.  If you want to be colorful and/or clichéd, you can even say “kicked the bucket.” “Expired.” “Gone to that great lexicon in the sky.” Anything.

Just no more “passing,” please.