son threw himself weeping on the coffin. "Dad!" he cried, "I had no idea you were so great!" The priest's description was not accurate. People who knew a man should recognise him in the obituary which you write. Avoid euphemisms A euphemism is a word or phrase which is used to describe something which we are embarrassed or ashamed to talk about directly. For example, Americans talk about "going to the bathroom" when they mean "urinating". Because death is not usually welcome, many euphemisms have grown up in the English language to describe it. Do not use them. Use plain simple English and you cannot cause offence. Do not say that somebody has "passed away" or "passed on"; say that they have "died". Do not talk about "the deceased" or "the departed one"; use the person's name, unless it is culturally unacceptable to do so. Organise a morgue The time to write an obituary is not when somebody has died; that is the time to publish or broadcast the obituary. The time to write an obituary is while the person is still alive. You can be quite certain that your work will not be wasted. The obituary will be used one day. It is quite certain that anybody you write an obituary about will die one day. Most newspapers, radio and television stations have obituaries prepared and filed away, in a reference library. These are also sometimes called clippings libraries or cuttings libraries or tape libraries in radio or television.