Question about vocabulary

[papirrines]

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]

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.

 

[emsr2d2]

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]

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]

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]

Thank you so much Gillnetter!

 

[papirrines]

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]

Thank you so much Soothing Dave

 

[emsr2d2]

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]

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.'