I think the Chicago Tribune calls them obituaries, too. At least they do online, and we always did growing up. The Trib is also a decent sized paper.
Please check. The NY Times calls obits “obituaries” and death notices “death notices” as does the NY Daily News, the Washington Post, and most other quality newspapers I’ve seen and worked for. You might be surprised–I used to ask my students to bring in sample obits, and they would bring in glurge-filled “death notices” from the Times and insist they were obits.
Used to be, a “cub” reporter’s first job was composing obits in advance. You’d get assigned someone newly famous, and unlikely to die any time soon, and you’d get to write that person’s obit–some editor would glance at it, mutter something like “Work on the lede,” or “Second graf’s too sappy” and you’d get another crack at it. That was how you learned to write real news copy–when you got good at it you’d be allowed to write about live people in stories intended to be published sometime this decade.
A paper that will publish copy written by someone who is not a professional writer doesn’t get to call itself a professional publication, in my view. (Outside of the letters to the editor, and guest op-eds, of course, and even those are rigorously edited.)
Again, I say…the Dallas Morning News does call these items “obituaries”. Or at least that’s how they are listed. Now, in the newsroom it’s quite possible that they use death notices and obits, but I am going to seriously question anyone who claims that the DMN is not a quality newspaper.
The terms are pretty clear in the newsroom, but not to the public. When you’re talking to the grieving widow, there’s not much point – or kindness – in explaining the nuances.
An obituary is, indeed, a news item written by a newsroom staffer. There is no charge to the family or anyone else, and sometimes negative things are included, like criminal history. The placement depends on the prominence of the person – could be front page; could be local news; could be sports.
A death notice is paid for by the family, often through the funeral home and billed with the rest of their services. It can say things like “went home with Jesus” and can list as many of the deceased’s relatives as the family is willing to pay for, including, as Lynn Bodoni says, caregivers, neighbors, and co-workers; some papers allow pets to be included. Few people writing paid death notices will include the deceased’s prison time or personal failures. Sometimes warring family members (estranged siblings, usually) want to place dueling death notices and the newspaper management will have to play peacemaker.
Some people are confused and think there is a law that information about a death has to appear in the newspaper; perhaps, as Edward the Head says, to notify creditors. Depending on where you live, issuance of a death certificate by the health department may be sufficient.
Some cities have papers called something like the “Daily Legal News” that may pick up information from the death, birth, and marriage certificates and divorce decrees issued and print it, and that’s where attorneys and collectors get the info to track down deadbeats and find heirs.
Sigmagirl, former obituary writer and editor
Almost exactly the distinction I drew, above. Thank you.
The Detroit Free Press, which has been around 20 years longer than the New York Times, lists both their death notices and obituaries under the heading “Obituaries,” even when there are no actual obituaries written for that day. It seem clear from a lot of sources that in common use, a death notice can be called an obituary and nobody (well, almost nobody) bats an eye.
In the terms of the OP, it sounds like the use of obituary in the story was intended to mean a death notice. Not having read the details, it still seems a flimsy hook to hang a plot point on though.
The Straight Dope, batting eyes since 1973.
Every newspaper I am familiar with has a section called “Obituaries” consisting of paid notices written by family members or mortuary staff, which are placed in the paper as part of the funeral expense.
I have seen some newspapers with a section (usually in the classifieds) called “Death Notices” which are factual entries placed by the police or other authorities containing a bare minimum of information.
If a prominent person dies and the newspaper writes a story about it, most people think of these as news articles, not as obituaries.
The policies may be different at large papers in NY and LA, for example, but I think if you surveyed a random sample of average Americans and asked them what an obituary is, it would be the paid announcement by the family.
And those Americans would then be self-identifying as ignoramuses blithely misusing the English language.
I’m curious–these “newspapers” you speak of, Lynn? Do they distinguish in any way between the articles written by professional writers and the glurge written by family and/or funeral hall employees? If there aren’t distinct headings, how are the readers to know which is which? Typeface? Column distinctions? Headlines?
Or don’t these “newspapers” seem to care if the readership understands the distinction between the work of the news organization itself and that of what is essentially a paid advertiser?
Seems to me an ethical issue if they don’t care, and a competence issue if they do.
I’m speaking specifically of the Dallas Morning News, because that’s the one I read the most. Do you think that it’s not a quality newspaper? I assure you, I pay a small fortune for it. I think that the WSJ and the Times are better newspapers, and I read them when I come across them, but the DMN is more relevant to my area.
I’m going to use your definitions for this post. The death notices are pretty distinct in style from the obits written by the staff. For one thing, the staff written obits have a byline. For another thing, the death notices are in very narrow columns, I’d guesstimate about 1.5 inches wide, whereas the obits are formatted as regular stories. The fonts used are different, too.
Hell, I’ve ranted about people using sci-fi when what they mean is science fiction/SF/specfic. Yeah, the insiders know and care about the distinction. However, most of the outsiders don’t care, and won’t care. Even people who LIKE the genre mostly won’t care, unless they are in the fandom. And I’ve come to the conclusion that I am one of a very few people who know AND CARE about the difference. If I want to have a hissy fit about how I like science fiction, but I don’t like sci-fi, then I might as well acknowledge that I’m doing it mostly for my own benefit. Even the publishers and producers who should know better are going to label their offerings “sci-fi” because that’s what the public knows, and that’s what the public wants. And so most newspapers, whether you approve of them doing so or not, are going to put death notices AND what you consider legitimate obituaries under the section which is labeled “Obituaries”.
Where I live, the local paper sells obituary/death notice space. They will print a notice with the basic facts for free but the family can write whatever they want for a per-line fee. It gets very long sometimes.
I believe that most people, by a substantial margin, would consider a death notice printed in the obituary section to qualify as an obituary. If I am correct, then so is that definition.
I disagree with you. I would say the vast majority of adults will have known - probably not been best buddies, but been acquaintances at least - someone who had an obituary. At least assuming that US obituaries are anything like in the UK, where for example the broadsheets usually have between 1 and 3 a day, not necessarily overlapping.
Just think about how many people you can reasonable say you have known at some point in your life. It’s probably a few thousand at least. And most of the people who end up with obituaries will stand out more and have more people who could say they have known them (as they are usually more gregarious and many will seek them out once they have a modicum of fame).
I agree. It’s very common for doctors, lawyers, to have an obituary (the official type, not just a death notice). It’s also common across the public sector, clergy, politicians and teachers appear in the obit section all the time. Unless you live a dull life in a big city I’d think someone you are acquainted with will have a full obituary.
US papers are similar to your UK example in terms of running obituaries. I think you are correct that most people probably know at least one person who’s had an obit written about them. My piano teacher, for example, had one in the Chicago Tribune. They are certainly an honor and not common, but they’re not exactly that rare that the average adult wouldn’t know somebody. I would bet that many of my college professors will have obits written up when they pass. (And some already have, and had had obituaries.)
A colleague of mine, easily the most famous person in my department, if not my college, author of 12 books, some of which have gotten honors as a New York Times’ Most Notable books of the year and such, one of the world’s authorities on Edmund Wilson, died last year, and got–zilch. Googling his name and ‘Obituary’ just got me a New York Times’ “paid death notice.” I’d be curious to see your piano teacher’s obituary–he must have been a hell of a famous piano teacher.
I agree. I think most occupations have specific terms about things that many people not in that occupation neither know nor care about. In my case, and it sounds like for many others, this sounds like one of those times.
I have known many people who have an obituary, though, but more of course who have had the garden variety death notice.
If we go back to the original post, however,bidont think I would ever take the lack of a notice as the sign a person is still alive. Sometimes an older person won’t have one if most of their friends have already died and all that’s left is a child and some grandchildren, or even just a brother or sister. Sometimes they are delayed. I’ve seen some stating that John Smith died a month ago or so, but a memorial service will be held next week. And some people just don’t want to pay. It can be expensive.
Not really. But here it is. As far as I know, he was just a very kind, patient piano teacher, and a heck of a player. I don’t know anything about him being famous–I found him in the Yellow Pages when I was looking for a jazz teacher. He was an inspirational person, though, and it warms my heart to see him honored in this way.
You might want to go to the newspaper archives to the day the death notice was printed, to see if the paper also printed an obituary. It just might not show up on Google.
Lynn-Please explain the distinction between science fiction and sci-fi.