Do you know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?

[Didactylos]

No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away

YANBU - Truth! Freedom! Justice! and a hardboiled egg!
YABU - what are you talking about?

I'm sure no-one minds this thread also being used to remember anyone who increased net joy in the world like Terry Wogan! Or for remembering their own loved ones, of course.

Posting in AIBU with no reference to Terry Pratchett in the title OR the opening post is going to cause confusion.

More people haven’t read his books, than have….

Thomas Hardy wrote a poem about this - I think it's called 'Voices Heard in a Graveyard' where the dead say that, after their first death (when they were buried), there was a time when people remembered and spoke about them. Then came the second death, when they were completely forgotten - and that was the hardest to bear. Sounds morbid - but it's a beautiful poem.

At my mum's funeral I wanted people to talk about her, and I love it when they keep doing so 10 years later. I know some people might not want that but I certainly did!

Someone mentioned Hitler...yes, but he will 'live in infamy'!

I didn't get the reference, so googled - well, I don't see why it can't also be that sort of thread.

mybeautfulthings.com/2017/04/14/so-many-different-lengths-of-time-poem-by-brian-patten/

Lots of things are posted here without explanation, though. I just tend not to post if I don’t understand WTF a thread is about.

I can’t read the last one, either.

There’s always something you should have done first.

Then I suggest they start.

And I'm not sure about that.

This is true, when somebody close to you dies, you don't stop loving them because they are no longer here, physically. You carry that love inside, it becomes part of your DNA, you have memories of them and speak about them to others, once there is no longer a voice, an echo, then they are gone.

Feel free to move along then

My personal favourites (despite my user name!) are the Watch books.

So start with Guards! Guards!

Then I suggest they start.

I really have tried with them - my husband is a huge fan and has most if not all the books - but I just couldn't 'get into' them - didn't find them readable for whatever the intangible reason is that makes some books readable for me and others not, regardless of whether they are popular or obscure.

Dried frog pill, anyone? There's a few on here that could clearly use a few.

Love Discworld. So funny, wise and humane.

*who could,dammit

@ErrolTheDragon thank you, I love that poem. My favourite is her Father Rode a Horse Called Death but I can never find it online.

It's particularly poignant for me, my own ddad died last year and I miss him like hell but he lives on in me, in all the advice and lessons he taught me in life. I still look to him when I need help and probably always will, his grandchildren feel the same.

GNU STP

This is a premise of many religions, which is why reverence of the dead is so widespread.

It is certainly a part of Judaism. Judaism doesn't hold with heaven or hell as many faiths, including Christianity, do, but does say that as long as a name is spoken, then that person lives. Also that there is an immortal soul which returns to God. However in Judaism there is a much stronger focus on living your mortal life., and making it a good one.

Some years ago I was given a card by the Holocaust Memorial Trust. It has on it the name of Michel Cveig, aged 32, who died in the Lodz Ghetto. This is all I know about him - I don't know if he was married with children, was a good man or a bad one, a manual worker or white collar - all I know is that he (and probably everyone he knew and loved) died horribly far earlier than they ought to have done, and I remember his name.

Always, on the 27th of January, and occasionally when something like this brings him into my mind. Michel Cveig won't die forever on my watch.

It doesn’t really stand for anything. It’s a code.

One of the books parodies the internet, using semaphore. GNU means the message should be sent back again when it reaches the last tower in a line. Dead semaphore operator’s name’s are put in messages with GNU on them so that their names will be endlessly cycled up and down the line, and they’ll always be remembered. It’s a nice and funny way to remember Terry Pratchett.

Many many people would disagree with you.

Same, I can't imagine a life without STP or Granny, so if I don't read the last one I can keep re reading the series and it won't end for me, Granny lives on for me at least GNU Sir Terry

What a lovely thread.

Pratchett is under-rated. His writings on death and illness and ageing are beautiful.

My friend's daughter died yesterday, it was expected but devastating for many. I have spent months looking for a quote to send to my friend but nothing seems right. Kicking myself for not thinking of Sir T.

"No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away" is perfect. That kid caused ripples.

Sending a wee hug to those of us who found comfort in Granny Weatherwax and Mort.

Someone else that I miss greatly

GNU Pterry and also my very own Granny Weatherwax - I share one of STP's quotes about Granny Weatherman on the anniversary of my own Gran's death.

Also poignant as MIL passed away last year from Alzheimers (anniversary us friday)

How do they rise up?

Buggrit, Millennium hand and shrimp.

💐

Bugger, autocorrect (we all know i meant Weatherwax both times)

He gave me a spoon

Yes, the term "man" to refer to mankind, includes women, children, and all humans.