# So, is it casket or coffin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 8, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469 "2005-04-08T20:47:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/21 "2005-04-11T05:56:08Z")
Screw it. Get cremated. Faster, and you don’t have to worry about getting dug up later and having alien scientists deduce every nuance about your life and death only to make poorly grounded generalizations about the rest of us. Always thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/22 "2005-04-11T06:21:42Z")
> [@Saranga](#): > > I don’t know whether this is really a hijack or not, but here goes… > > A friend of mine was trying to explain to me once that when someone is buried in a wooden coffin, the coffin is placed in a metal box before being interred. This is to seal the body and prevent it from decomposing into the water table. I have thankfully not buried anyone yet so I had never heard of this. > > He racked his brain (and Google) to find the name for this box, but never found it. Anyone know? Also, is this a common practice worldwide or only in certain areas or cemetaries? I don’t think this is common here in the UK. There is just the wooden coffin which is buried directly in the ground. We also don’t go in for embalming much here either. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/23 "2005-04-11T15:16:42Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > I’d agree. I’d always assumed that \*casket \* was simply the Americanised form of _coffin_. My guess is that it’s commercial propaganda on the part of the funeral industry. The same way a real estate agent will insist on being called a “Realtor” and will _never_ say “house,” preferring “home,” even when it would sound unnatural in colloquial speech. There’s a T.V. commercial that runs in this area advertising the services of a “New Homes Guide” or some such publication in which a couple complains that their acquaintances have bought a great house in a great location when “I never even knew those homes were there.” A real person would say “I never even knew those _houses_ were there.” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/24 "2005-04-11T15:18:03Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > I remembered an interesting dialect survey map that included this question. > > [http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q\_90.html](http://cfprod01.imt.uwm.edu/Dept/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_90.html) But these maps seem to indicate that geography is irrelevant to the use of these terms. So how are the maps interesting? ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/25 "2005-04-11T15:49:54Z")
On the subject of commercial propaganda. In the UK they like to call themselves Funeral Directors , but the rest of the population call them Undertakers. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/26 "2005-04-12T02:06:21Z")
> [@chefIL11](#): > > I’ve wondered this before but recently, watching the pope’s services, both have been used. On CNN, two separate reporters both discussed his burial, while one used coffin, the other said casket. (Not the same report, about an hour apart) > I remember when my mother passed, the term coffin seemed somewhat disrespectful or morbid. I guess I related coffins to vampires. > Why would someone use one opposed to another? Is there a difference? It makes no nevermind. A rose by any other would smell as sweet. There is no difference except in spelling and pronunciation. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/27 "2005-04-12T02:27:10Z")
I have to say I was intrigued to see that the Batesville Casket Company offer: > [@](#): > > With Batesville metal caskets, warranties range anywhere from 5 to 15 years, depending on metal type. I wonder how many times people have dug up their loved ones after 15 years to see if they can make a claim for the coffin degrading whilst under warranty and demanded they be re-buried in a new one. Seems like a highly pointless warranty to me!! ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/28 "2005-04-12T11:39:43Z")
> [@spingears](#): > > It makes no nevermind. A rose by any other would smell as sweet. > There is no difference except in spelling and pronunciation. 😉 After mulling this overnight it came to mind that a coffin is an old timey appellation for a plain wood burial box. A casket is a new fangled desigignation for a fancy metal box with decorative handles and soft padding inside for the comfort of the corpse. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/29 "2005-04-12T13:58:09Z")
> [@chefIL11](#): > > Why would someone use one opposed to another? Is there a difference? The boss is lurking, so I didn’t have time to read all the posts. What I can say is this: when I worked at the funeral home, I was told that a coffin has six sides (plus a lid and a bottom) while a casket has four sides (plus a top and a bottom). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/30 "2005-04-12T14:30:23Z")
> [@js\_africanus](#): > > The boss is lurking, so I didn’t have time to read all the posts. What I can say is this: when I worked at the funeral home, I was told that a coffin has six sides (plus a lid and a bottom) while a casket has four sides (plus a top and a bottom). Hmm … that seems to be the opposite of the conclusion of the previous posts. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/31 "2005-04-12T16:51:35Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Hmm … that seems to be the opposite of the conclusion of the previous posts. No, look again. It agrees with posts # 6 & 14. It disagrees with none. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/32 "2005-04-12T17:22:59Z")
Hugh Rawson’s _A Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk_ claims that ‘casket’ is a euphemism for ‘coffin’. ---
**Author:** ![Kitchen\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/33 "2005-04-12T20:36:58Z")
> [@js\_africanus](#): > > The boss is lurking, so I didn’t have time to read all the posts. What I can say is this: when I worked at the funeral home, I was told that a coffin has six sides (plus a lid and a bottom) while a casket has four sides (plus a top and a bottom). **js** : Not wanting to hijack this thread, I’ll say I would love you to start a thread describing your duties. I always wanted to become a mortician, that is until I worked at a medical lab (saw some pretty gory stuff that wouldn’t hold a candle to working with whole dead bodies). But I would like to hear about your experiences. :: wink wink, nudge nudge:: ---
**Author:** ![mrunlucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@mrunlucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrunlucky)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469/34 "2005-04-12T22:32:19Z")
[The Online Etymology Dictionary](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=casket): casket 1461, “small box for jewels, etc.,” possibly formed as a dim. of Eng. _cask_, or from Norm.-Fr. _cassette_, from [M.Fr](http://M.Fr). _casset_. Meaning of “coffin” is Amer. Eng., probably euphemistic, first attested 1849. I’m also under the impression after reading _The American Way of Death_ by Jessica Mitford, that “casket” is a preferred term by the funerary industry because it seems more “meaningful” than “coffin”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-is-it-casket-or-coffin/298469.md?page=1)