The language of death In libraries and bookstores, hundreds of books offer advice - how to prepare for death, think about death, talk about death. In the past year alone, two dozen new nonfiction books about death have been published in the United States, according to Books in Print listings. At 33, with a doctorate in developmental psychology, the energetic professor isn't there to provide therapy, although she imagines a sort of therapy happens. Her students visit Seaside Memorial Park and Funeral Home. Language, Biedenharn says, holds death at a distance.
Medical professionals avoid words, too.
Carolyn Jaffe believes that a slight distinction in words symbolizes a significant distinction in attitude. It's a ridiculous euphemism,'' says Jaffe, the first hospice nurse in Denver, now retired. She helped found Hospice of Metro Denver in 1978. They died. . . . Everyone is so afraid to say it even though we are all headed that way.