How to talk about DEATH in English

[Sings] That's like the funeral march from Star Wars. If you know Darth Vader, "Luke,

I am your father." And I am James, from EngVid. And I'm going to talk about, well, not a happy

subject, but a subject we should talk about nonetheless. "Nonetheless" means "anyway",

right? So what are we talking about? Death. In this case, it's Mr. D has died. Long live

Mr. E. You may not have met Mr. D. He's from an unsuccessful website that was started and

died. That's why he's gone. The king is dead. Long live the king. Mr. E is here. Right,

E? Props.

Okay. So let's talk about death. And I may be smiling too much and laughing too much,

but you know what? Around the world, there are different ways to talk about or deal with

death. And we're going to talk about a couple of different ways. But I'm going to give you

the basic Western way of looking at death, okay?

Now, number one, this person is dead -- well, this worm is dead. One of the things we say

when someone dies -- we say this: pass away. If someone has "passed away", they've died.

We don't always want to go, "Did he die? Is he dead yet?" You know? It kind of seems as

little bit like, "Back up. Slow down." So we say they "pass away" like a gentle breeze.

They fly away. Their soul goes, right? So if you say, "Johnny, Mr. D passed away last

week", it means he died. So listen for Canadians when they say that, or Americans or British

people. Did they "pass away". Or they might also say it this way. They might say "gone".

"When did they go? Are they gone?" You're like, "No. Still dead." Sorry. That's bad.

Okay. Enough "levity", which is fun or making light of something, okay?

So let's talk about death. So if someone's gone or passed away, one of the things we

like to say is "R.I.P.", R.I.P. Some people rip one, but that's not what I'm talking about.

"R.I.P." as in "rest in peace". You usually say that when you give your condolences. "Condolences."

All these words. "Condolences." What is a "condolence"? A "condolence" is when you say,

"I'm sorry about your loss." Usually for death. "I'm sorry your father has died. I'm sorry

your mother has died. I'm sorry." It's a big sorry, condolence. "Do you have any condolences?

Or I'd like to give my condolences. "All right?

So they've died. They're resting in peace. Hopefully, they were good, right? Rest in

peace, because they look so happy. Right? And you give your condolences. Guess what?

You're not done. Unlike a wedding -- because funerals are like reverse weddings except

the person gets to live through it. You've got to go to the funeral, right? Usually,

before the funeral -- or part of the funeral -- is the viewing. Notice we have these people

watching a picture? Well, this is when you go and see the person in their casket. See?

Mr. D is in a casket. That's the thing we put them in after they die. They die; we put

them in a casket. And then, you can go to a viewing. The "viewing" is you walk by -- yes.

Believe it. There's a dead body -- okay. Look. Picture this. There's a dead body in the room.

There are people dressed in shirts and ties like this. They walk by, and they look at

the dead person. And they say things like, "I'm sorry you're dead. It was nice knowing

you. Rest in peace. See you later, Chuckles." Or, "You're next." Right? So you view. You

take a look at the dead body, okay?

Another word to say besides that is -- because some people say -- oops. Sorry. I want to

say "coffin". C-o-f-f-i-n, "coffin". A "coffin". So a "casket", "coffin". Another way of saying

what this is, okay? They say, "Look at the coffin", or you buy the casket -- you buy

the casket. When you put the body in it, it become a "coffin". That's the difference.

You say, "How much is the casket?" Coffin. Rest in peace, dude. Okay.

So not everybody goes through this process. And we'll get to that after. But you go for

the viewing. You look at the person in their coffin. All right? Now, what are you going

to do with this thing? Well, you're going to have to put it in the ground. And that's

what we call the "burial". We bury it. We put it. You go there. They pick up the earth.

They put the coffin in the ground, and they bury it. Okay? That's what we basically call

the "basic funeral". Notice these people don't look happy because there's no fun in a funeral,

Son. Yeah. Okay. Moving on. Bad joke, bad joke. Okay.

So there's no fun at the funeral. You've done your viewing. They've buried the casket or

the coffin, right? Now, some people, after they're done, especially if they're Irish

-- good old Irish people -- they have what's called a "wake". You see? He's waking up.

Their belief is that the spirit or the person has died, and you want them to go off in a

very -- I don't know. You want them to be happy in heaven or whatever your view of the

afterlife. "Afterlife" is the time after you've died. So they have a wake. Everybody gets

up. They dance. They sing. They tell great stories of what happened to the other person.

And other people, at their funerals, they have -- they're just really sorry and sad.

Everybody has to be feeling bad. No fun. Okay?

So this is what can happen after, say, Irish -- but not just Irish funerals. Many places

around the world believe in wakes. We call it a "wake" where you celebrate the death

-- or you celebrate the life of the person after they've died.

So we've done our funeral, our burial, right? Our coffin. But is that how it ends for everybody?

Not really. I told you this is going to be slightly international. So we've got the Irish

wake. But if you go to somewhere like India, for instance, they have a pyre. And if you're

a comic book fan like me -- Thor. They would have had pyres, funeral pyres. What that is

-- they take somebody, like this worm over here, for instance. They would throw them

on the fire. They're dead, okay? Remember they're dead. [Screams] And they burn the

body because they think, you know, you burn the body. The ashes go up. It spreads. The

person -- it helps them get to the higher world. Right?

We, in the West, have something similar. We burn the body as well. But we "cremate" it.

"Cremation". What that means -- we burn it. We collect it. Instead of making it go up,

we put it in a little bottle, and you take it home. Daddy in a jar or Mommy in a jar.

You know? "I just bought a jar of my father." But it's not called a "jar"; it's called an

"urn". So if you're with a person who is British, Irish, Australian, Canadian, American, and

they have a jar on their table, and they say "urn", don't play with it. It's somebody.

It used to be somebody, okay? Don't open it up. Don't go look. They go, "That's an urn."

Don't drink it. Don't go make coffee out of it. Don't touch it. Just say, "I'm sorry about

your loss." That's something -- that's a condolence right there. "I'm sorry about your loss."

You can use that one if you get invited to a funeral.

So before I pass away, I think we've covered everything here. Right? Rest in peace, caskets,

coffins, burial, cremations, condolences. Before this lesson dies a terrible end because

I kill it -- I just love it. [Whispers] Mr. E, hope you, well, read in peace. I'd say

"study in peace", but we don't got that there. So study in peace. What are you going to do?

Where are you going to go to keep studying? After viewing this particular lesson, I'm

sure you want to go back to www.engvid.com, "eng" as in "English", "vid" as in "video",

where you can have fun. It's not a funeral, right? But we will bury you with knowledge,

okay? But it will help you wake up to the fact that English is a fun language. You like

that? I do, too. That's why I do this. Anyway. You have a great day. I'm off. And we'll study

soon. Long live the king. Peace out.

See? I'm gone away now, but not passed away.