Question about vocabulary

Status
Not open for further replies.

papirrines

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Spanish
Home Country
Mexico
Current Location
Mexico
How is it called to the dead people in English? I mean, in Spanish we call them "los muertos", and we say for instance that, on November 1st and 2nd, we take flowers to ______________ ... "les llevamos flores a nuestros muertos". How can you express that? How would you say that? :/ I hope you can help me...
 

Gillnetter

Key Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
How is it called to the dead people in English? I mean, in Spanish we call them "los muertos", and we say for instance that, on November 1st and 2nd, we take flowers to ______________ ... "les llevamos flores a nuestros muertos". How can you express that? How would you say that? :/ I hope you can help me...
I can't think of one term that works the same way in English. The nearest day we have (in the US) is Memorial Day. In the past this was called Decoration Day. This day became popular following the American Civil War (1861-1865). Though it really was meant to honor those who died in combat, many people will go to cemeteries on Memorial Day to put flowers on the graves of family and friends. I would just say that I'm going to a cemetery to put flowers on a grave.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
The collective term is "the dead" but we don't use it to refer to individual or groups of dead relatives or friends. We are starting to hear more about "Day of the Dead" celebrations in the UK (November 1st) but it hasn't really caught on yet! The British are rather reserved about death and the idea of having a picnic and a party in a graveyard would appal many people. In addition, these days most people in the UK opt for cremation so there are fewer and fewer graves being dug and occupied. I read a news story just last week saying that we are running out of space for burials and might have to consider digging up older skeletons, re- burying them deeper and then burying someone else on top of them.
 

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
How is it called to the dead people in English?
The context matters. Yes, we don't put flowers on the graves of "the dead", as a linguistic rule. But the following are good English:
"Do you think some people can speak to the dead?"
"I believe the dead are in a better place."
So, if you're referring non-specifically, it's OK. But we tend not to speak of our deceased loved-ones as "the dead". Eg. * "We're going to put flowers on the graves of our dead." But referring to other people, "The people in the war-zone did not even get a chance to bury their dead" is OK.
So it's very contextual.
 

SoothingDave

VIP Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
A Mass for All Souls Day (November 2) would probably speak about those we have lost in the past year, or our departed loved ones. Calling them "the dead" is a bit too blunt.
 

papirrines

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Spanish
Home Country
Mexico
Current Location
Mexico
Thank you so much Gillnetter!
 

papirrines

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Spanish
Home Country
Mexico
Current Location
Mexico
Raymott, I really appreciate your answer, it completely solved my question an also enhanced the information I had about this stuff. Thank you so much for this incredible answer!
 

papirrines

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Spanish
Home Country
Mexico
Current Location
Mexico
Thank you so much Soothing Dave
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Papirrines, please do not write new posts to say "Thank you" (especially not three new posts in a row!) Simply click the Like button on any post you find helpful. This is because when we see that a thread has a new post, we assume there is a new question or a new response to the original question. We are rather disappointed that we take the time to click through to the thread just to find "Thank you".
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
How is it called to the dead people in English?

The correct way to ask this question, papirrines, is 'What do you call dead people in English?'



Additionally, please note that a better title would have been 'Dead people'.

Extract from the Posting Guidelines:

'Thread titles should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed.'
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top