Friday, November 05, 2010

Abiit ad plures

It is thanks purely to The Times cryptic crossword #24681 that I know that ‘joining the majority’ was once in common use as a euphemistic term for dying*. The OED confirms that it is now considered obsolete.

Funnily enough, I do remember learning the Latin tag.

No wonder literary types in particular are likely to get agitated over suggestions that the living now outnumber the dead.

*Leave the smaller group to die (4,3,8)


Related post
Numbering the dead