Well, I suppose if you bumped into a casual aquaintance and they asked “How’s Jim doing?” you wouldn’t really have a lot of options if Jim had killed himself the Tuesday before. However, as far as I’m concerned, just because the person said it, it doesn’t open the door for nosey questions.
YMMV.
I don’t suppose you ever read the Soup books by Robert Newton Peck?
Just enough to know what you’re talking about.
Funny how the tiniest little things can stick with a person for such a long time. I haven’t read those books in probably 20 years, but that phrase definitely brings that book to mind every time.
Frankly, I simply offer my condolances. If the person wants to give me more details, I’ll listen. Frankly, I get so angry whenever I hear of suicide I don’t want to talk about the topic. If I start getting flooded with details I’ll often suggest talking to someone else or a therapist. I am not a sympathetic listener on that topic anymore.
I spent a rather intense six months living with someone who loved talking about suicide and how he’d do it painlessly if he ever went. I finally got so fed up hearing about it, I told him that if I ever killed myself I’d do it in the most painful, flamboyant and disgusting manner possible - if I’m going to be that selfish, I want to make sure no one misses my giant F— YOU.
It finally got him to stop talking about it, at least. 8-\