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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Factual Fiction- Euphemism

They brought the body in at 1 pm from the hospital. The ladies of the house began to wail at the sight of the lifeless body. They proceeded to bathe and dress the body in preparation for the funeral. The kids of the house jumped and played around the body, unmindful of the seriousness of the situation.
Stop Stop Stop… Find…Replace… I should replace the word “the body” with “Mrs Das”. Only a few hours ago she was Mrs Das and has now been euphemized as “the body”.

9 comments:

Still Searching said...

Exactly what my thought had been when I witnessed the drowning of 2 men at a beach in Goa last month... people switched so easily to 'there is one more body in the water', 'they carried the body to the ambulance', 'the body was so heavy' etc etc.. so easy to forget that this is a person, with a family, friends, with a name, with an identity, with things to do, dreams etc... it all becomes just one lifeless body... so easy to make it one lifeless body..

Has to be me said...

This is somewhat similar to calling the baby foetus whilst still in the womb.

Hip Grandma said...

Cruel tho' it may sound isn't it a way to break off from the bond that binds us and think in terms of an eternal soul

Twisted DNA said...

We will all be referred to as "the body" sooner or later. I think the best thing to do is make sure we 'live' before that moment!

Itchingtowrite said...

ruchika- welcome & keep coming.

Has to be me- nice analogy- since we don't know whether the baby is a he or she -w e also call the baby "it" isn't it?
Hip G mom- may be since we know the person as a living, breathing perosn, we cannot associate the lifeless form with the real person?
TDNA- To Life!!

Kalpana said...

That is what we'll be called in future.;) We need to do something good before that day comes. That's how we'll(our eternal soul) be remembered or satisfied.

Neer said...

can we choose the euphemism??

mommyof2 said...

I read the same somewhere recently but can't think of where. Even that time it hit me and now after reading it again here has sad impact on me:-(

Just Like That said...

This post of yours is kind of similar to the one on the tripod returning friend.
Suddenly the immensity of the thing strikes you...