I finished a murder mystery and one of the reasons the lady figures it out is that she could not find an obituary anywhere. So this leads her to conclude the death was faked and she finds the killer.
OK fine, it’s a story but do people usually have obituaries? I can see in a small town, but if you’re in NYC or LA, would anyone write on? Don’t you have to pay anyway to put them in a paper?
I could see if you’re famous you’d get an obit, but this character was just a regular guy
Small town here…someone has to contact the newspaper before an obit is published. There can be days and in several cases weeks before the obit shows up. Sometimes several people see that an obit needs to be published so some people get multiple obits.
Just about anyone who uses the services of a funeral home gets a notice (though not necessarily an obit) in the paper–that’s part of the service. And I believe most local authorities post some kind of notice for paupers’ funerals, too.
Pretty much everybody that I have personally known who has died has had an obituary. Granted none of them have lived in NYC or LA, so I guess my experience may be unusual, but I think it is pretty common for anyone who leaves loved ones behind to get an obituary. The loner or near loner either without any living family or estranged from his/her family is likely a different story though, unless they are otherwise somehow famous.
A lot of times, at least now a days, obituaries are required as that’s to let any creditor know that you’ve died. At least that’s how it was explained to me when my mother died, creditors then have six months to asked to be repaid or they don’t get repaid.
This was in Maryland and I’m sure it’s different in other places.
The papers in my area all charge for obituaries, so if nobody feels like buying one, nothing (apart from the list of death certificates filed in the county) will be published. Our local laws don’t seem to require that an obituary be published.
I doubt very much that anyone you have personally known has gotten an obituary. What non-famous people get, typically as a part of their funeral expenses, is a paid “Death Notice” all filled with glurge and drivel about how wonderful they were, “Beloved Daughter, Wonderful mommy to Fido, Fuzzybritches,” etc. . An obituary is an article written by a newspaper’s staff writer (as opposed to a funeral parlor employee) that recounts the person’s life on a factual basis.
If that is what the OP was really looking for then I fail to see how this is even a question, because of course very few people even in a small town have an obituary in that sense. I think most people use obituary and death notice, etc, interchangeably and I would assume that is what happened in the OP’s story.
In my experience, the common everyday death notices don’t have much glurge, just a straightforward list of facts: Age at death, possibly cause of death, a list of surviving close relatives, and the time and place of funeral services, plus possibly a charity to donate to in lieu of flowers.
An actual obituary, properly so called, is a brief biography, usually praising, and is only for someone prominent. They’re usually written in advance, and there have been a few interesting historical stories of them accidentally getting published before the person in question dies (Nobel, for instance, was inspired to create his eponymous Prizes by seeing his obituary describing him as a maker of weapons).
Two entirely separate things, not interchangeable in the least.
I don’t mean to be contentious, but I believe it’s very common for the section of newspapers that display ‘death notices’ to be CALLED the Obituary Section. For ex.
This may lead to some of the confusion between the two. As nearly as I can tell, these are paid for by the families of the deceased.
I am not saying that the terms are interchangeable, but they are often used as such. As Satchmo says, even my local newspaper refers to paid death notices as “obituaries”.
In my area, obituaries are paid for by family members or friends. The funeral home will help you write it, and send it in to the paper in time for the funeral. By the way, obits are expensive, even for short write-ups.
A death notice, is simply the death certificate listing published by the county. It includes name of deceased, town, age, and date of death.
In our small town the death notices are paid for, and written by, the family. They can go a couple of columns, with usually just one picture, and mention parents, siblings, spouse, children, grandchildren,bobbies, pets, special friends and lots of other stuff. They also mention education and jobs, and some have stories about travels or other experiences. They end up with details of the funeral arrangements.
Prominent citizens would have A newspaper article in addition to the death notice, but it would be in the news section or sports pages depending on why the citizen was prominent (local baseball coach compared to mayor, for example).
My sister recieved a notice from the funeral home, published in the paper where she was to be buried, and not where she had lived. When I inquired, her local newspaper wanted over $300 to print what I had submitted to them. ($8 a line, and apparently about three words per line.)
offers Frank a supportive hug. Dealing with death is never fun. I’m so sorry.
Indeed. My local paper, for one, has a section for OBITUARIES, separate from the classified ads, and I’ve always thought of and referred to such things as “obituaries.”
I’m dubious about prr’s claim, so I looked up the word “obituary.” Several dictionaries (e.g. here and here) define it to be simply a published death notice, without making the distinction that prr makes. Wikipedia seems to be on prr’s side, saying that an obituary is “a news article” and distinguishing them from death notices and memorial advertisements, but then it also says that “In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant. In local newspapers, an obituary may be published for any local resident upon death.”
What’s the Straight Dope? Has the word changed its meaning? Is prr giving the Big City point of view, as opposed to those of us who have “local newspapers”?
I am definitely representing what the word “obituary” means on a real newspaper, as opposed to a local shopper, glorified newsletter, eight-page freebie, etc. that can call any type of article whatever it chooses without lowering its reputation in the world of journalism one tiny bit (because there is no lower form of journalism. Unless one of my journalism students has a particularly well-written piece in such a rag, I usually advise him or her not to bother sending clips when they apply for a job on a real newspaper, as the clips will only detract.)
Around here, it’s not uncommon to see something like “John Smith was called home to Jesus” and then a listing of the facts. Sometimes there’s some additional glurge. However, in these here parts, there are a LOT of very religious folks who feel that it’s important to let everyone know that the Dearly Departed was one of the Righteous.
I just grabbed Sunday’s paper. The notices are varied in length and listings. One guy has just about the entire length of the paper devoted to his activities, professional, charitable, and personal. The notice tells of his service on the Board of Realtors in one city and the Planning and Zoning board in another city. The notice does give a shout out to his caregivers, which I thought was a nice touch.
One woman’s notice says that she enjoyed traveling, and then it lists her favorite cities. And other notices will have other info. None of these people are particularly prominent. And all of the notices are listed as “OBITUARIES” in all caps.
There’s also ads for funeral homes, crematoriums (for humans and pets), and florists.
The Dallas Morning News calls these things obituaries. And the DMN is one of the most respected newspapers in the US.