Thursday, April 03, 2008

Why do they say that?

In the news, in the newspapers, in magazines... "He/she escaped alive" (from a car sinking in a river, a mugging, a free-for-all, a wedding - whatever).

I mean, who escapes dead, right?

And on a similar note,: "He/she cheated death" (sometimes qualified with a "miraculously").


No, he/she didnt. Death merely got postponed a little.

Death ALWAYS wins, no matter how fervently anybody states they've cheated it. (Or should that be Him?)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

that should be HIM (terry p might be losing his memory -- what's wrong with yours?!!)... and yes, that escaped alive thing has always puzzled me :-)

~nm said...

Like they say "Engish is a very phunny language!" :D

LAK said...

Yeah, escaped alive sounds ludicrous!BTW, maybe I'm getting bloodthirsty, but "thrashed within an inch of his life" always sounds very interesting! And yes,that's a moot point death can only be postponed, call it 'it' or 'him'!Did u read Jeffrey Archer's "Death speaks"? Just a one page story.

Anonymous said...

Brin: Sympathetic memory loss? Would that be a good enough excuse? :)

NM: Boy, that's fer sure! :)

Lak: Yes, how do they calculate that last inch? I wonder if there's a mathematical formula for that? Ofc only in theory - no human being would have been harmed in proving the formula. Right?

- Shyam

Anonymous said...

Hmm.. this kina reminds me of the "curious incident of the dog at nightime" - who really has skeletons in their closets and apples in their eyes?

Teesu (very very Indian, very very good) said...

Think it is for effect -- the way these are generally written. Silly though. On this note, there are people who NEVER talk about death or anything related to it or indeed, about anyone dead unless a total stranger. Think these people are afraid of the whole thing and/or have never lost a loved one. Good, cos ignorance IS bliss.