I see this so much in ‘journalism’. Before the Queen died, she said this. Or before Tina Turner died, she recorded this song.
I just don’t get why writers do this.
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Presuming you mean acts which are not ambiguous in this way, like “fed a flock of vultures”?
Seinfeld references shall live forever. Unfortunately, I had to stop using them at work many years ago because of those darn, uncultured youngsters.
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It’s not in reference to something said shortly before she died? That’s how I would likely take it. Unless I knew it wasn’t shortly before!
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In line with the current “theme” - many newspaper reports referencing “dead corpse”.
(Oh, and “malapropisms”, but only because I had to look it up.)
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Unless you are a fan of The Walking Dead, is there any other kind???
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Was reminded of this annoying phrase this morning:
Parental Units (meaning “parents”)
Blame the Coneheads…
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Most everything can be traced directly back to Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld or Kevin Bacon.
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Somehow it was ok when they used it… !!!
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Any euphemism for ‘dead’ or died’
s/he passed away… s/he expired…s/he crossed over… etc.
Just Say It!!!
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“It is, what it is”, especially in a work / professional context
“Like”, used as a filler for someone who struggles to form a sentence in their native tongue
“Just say’n”, especially following an insult or derogatory remark (He needs to hit the gym and lose some tonnage. Just say’n.)
“Please stay on the line. Your call is very important for to us…”, used by companies that would hire more service representatives if my call really was important to them
“Anonymous sources say…” or “According to knowledgeable sources…”, because named sources could be questioned
“Whatever”, especially coupled with Valley Girl/Boy inflection
“I feel that/like…”, before stating a claim or belief (I feel like grocery prices have been rising a lot lately)
“My truth”, you can have your own experience, but not your own truth
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Related is “lived experience” being extrapolated and generalized, where some people do not realize that their anecdotal experience can be an outlier, or where some people do not realize that less common, but much better or much worse, outcomes are possible compared to their common outcome.
And the British have Shakespeare.
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I think the analogy holds if you throw in Monty Python and Hugh Grant.
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The worst I have heard are ‘she transitioned’ or ‘she got her angel wings’.
I have no idea.
Really? No idea? Surely you have some idea. Just say, “I don’t know”.
I have no idea why some people use that annoying phrase.
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I get annoyed by rhetorical questions, do you?
I’ve never heard either of those, but I have to say…they are worse than ‘she passed away’ !