Why cant we speak ill of the dead?

[sdifox]

You are under the deceased's roof, eating his/her food, banging his/her spouse. Show some courtesy.

 

[zinfamous]

I'm really tempted to do a massive swear filled rant just to see what words get substituted! 😀
It's funny the different cultural meanings swear words have. The one I used earlier has no relation to the gender of the person insulted in UK usage. It's the same with "dick", if someone said "that person is a dick" I'd have no insight into whether they were a bloke or not.

my current favorite is

beloved patriot or maybe even beloved patriot.

OK two different words censor to the same phrase. LAZY!

 

[zinfamous]

Because the Grateful Dead is the greatest band ever, that is why…duh.

-KeithP

Amen

 

[pmv]

It's not so much "don't speak ill of the dead" as "don't speak ill of the very recently deceased". I don't know where it comes from, maybe it emerges naturally out of our general moral nature and social codes? It just feels tacky and wrong.

_Except_ that people do break that rule fairly often, and I think the full rule is "don't speak ill of the recently departed unless you really, truly, seriously, hated them".

It's not that it's something you should never do, rather it's something you should never do lightly or glibly. Only do it if you really mean it (and hence are happy to take on those who will be offended)

Also, apropos of someone mentioned in this thread, another thing that occurs to me is that it's when your enemies die of age-related conditions that you really start to feel old yourself, which is actually a bit of a downer. You can actually miss your enemies...especially if their successors are too pathetic to properly detest.

In a non-political context, my old school being demolished made me sad, even though when I was there I always thought I'd pay money to drive the bulldozer myself.

A final point is it's also annoying when people who were no friend to someone when they were alive suddenly talk as if they were their greatest pal once they die. This is also P&N material, but certain figures were regularly denounced while alive only to be invoked as saints by those denouncers once dead.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I have an ex-boss I would speak ill of after she dies. Fuck her... she was an evil bitch and I hope she rots in hell. If I read tomorrow that she had died I would smile and say good riddance.

 

[Muse]

You are under the deceased's roof, eating his/her food, banging his/her spouse. Show some courtesy.

That's never happened to me, AFAIK.

 

[Muse]

Because the Grateful Dead is the greatest band ever, that is why…duh.

-KeithP

Uh, no. That was The Beatles.

 

[Muse]

It's the same reason you shouldn't talk about people, in general.

A good rule of thumb I heard is never say anything about a person you wouldn't say in their presence.

 

[Muse]

Based on that train of thought....I suppose they don't want to become some dead guy's unfinished business and be haunted.

I don't have that problem.

But if you fuck with voodoo, watch out. I have better things to do.