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Gary Kaupman (Pleasure)'s avatar

Thanks for giving be new ways to use older words. My favorite of these would be something like “Exited this Mortal Coil.” Would the Times use that?😉

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Don Shewey's avatar

It would be funny to see different verbs in NY Times obituary headlines: Kicks the Bucket, Buys the Farm, Shuffles Off This Mortal Coil. But of course every letter counts in a headline, so they keep it simple. I will say that one of the most chilling phrases in a news story is "found dead," which is almost always a euphemism for self-delivery.

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Gary Kaupman (Pleasure)'s avatar

Lovely, thank you.

“Taken the verb” is new to me. I find nothing on the interwebs. Would love to know more if you are of a mind to share🌞

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Don Shewey's avatar

I know, it's hilariously arcane terminology. I only know this from my husband, who's a copy editor at the New York Times. In the print edition, on the obituaries page, there is a policy not to use the verb "dies" or "is dead" more than once on each page. The top obit takes the verb in the headline; the ones lower down on the page carry headlines with just the name, age, and claim to fame in the headline. (Obviously, this doesn't apply online.) So around our house, when someone dies, we refer to them as having "taken the verb."

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