BellaOnline Forums Relationships Bereavement Using euphemisms

I wonder if anyone else feels as I do about using euphemisms when talking about death?

In a recent conversation I mentioned a family member who had died, and someone said it sounds unfeeling to say 'died', and I should say something like 'passed away'. I realize there are some situations when it may be okay to use a euphemism - discussing something intimate, maybe, depending on the company - but why use them for death? I don't get it. Maybe my belief in reincarnation makes me more accepting of death than some.

We know that death happens; nothing changes by using some phrase like 'passed away' or 'passed on'. I find such euphemisms annoying - am I on my own in this?

When I was working a coworker called in sick because his grandmother had died (this was a running joke BTW - he had like 7 grandmothers die).

We had a board where we wrote who was out and why, so I put his name and "grandmother died". Someone came along behind me later and erased "died" and wrote "passed away". It just never occurred to me, although I do tend to say "passed away" when talking about the recently dead.

I agree - I tend to use the word 'died'. I guess that's partly because of my training (I am a nurse) and partly because I have never believed in euphemisms in anything (with some exceptions).

My youngest son was only 8 when his father died and we used the 'real words' to his level including cremation and leukemia. We didn't say he went to sleep or was sick like many of our friends and relatives did. He then worried about going to sleep and perhaps he might die or when one of his brothers or I had a cold he worried that we would die as well.