Is it just me or is this phrase horribly misapplied in some cases?
Take someone like Steve Irwin, who died gurgling water and being stabbed by a stingray. Or Steve Fossett, whose death involved a sudden stop and the ignominy of being eaten by mountain animals afterwards. Ayrton Senna's blind date with concrete barriers also gets a mention.
I really, really, REALLY would like the expression "died doing what he/she loved best" to be excised from the vernacular. It makes no Goddamned sense.
Penetration_Guru wrote:
Surely Michael Htchence died doing something he loved? Also John Entwhistle?
Indeed! There does seem to be a very thin line where the saying can be applied successfully ... I think the misconception is that the person is still enjoying their life pursuit right at the moment of termination. Take Tiny Tim - you might say 'he died doing what he loved best', but actually he didn't. First of all, it was a terrible gig, and second, he spent his last minutes sweating and feeling shitty.
I guess it could be applied to extremely sudden deaths where the victim has no idea what has just happened. Bing Crosby, by all accounts, was perfectly happy with his round of golf right up until the point he said "That was a great game, let's go get a Coca Cola" and proceeded to eat turf.
The line that always annoys me is " live every day as if it were your last" or words to that effect. So does that mean i can stop in bed all day, listening to the radio and bugger all the housework? Or I may eat cheese and chocolate, drink sherry and coffee again, cause if I'm not around tomorrow, I won't be around for the bloody migraine!
Right on. "Every day as if it were your last"? Oh great, I have to run around telling everyone how much I love them and giving them my belongings in meaningful gestures.