# The late . . .

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late/37634>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 20, 2000, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late/37634 "2000-10-20T05:41:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late/37634/1 "2000-10-20T05:41:12Z")

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For how long following someone’s death do we describe them as “the late”? I thought it meant the recently deceased, yet I still hear people refer to the “Late John F. Kennedy” and the “late Marilyn Monroe.” But I’ve never heard “the late George Washington.” So where’s the cut-off between late and just-plain dead?

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**Author:** ![Renton\_lvr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7feea3/32.png) [@Renton\_lvr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renton_lvr)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late/37634/2 "2000-10-20T06:19:55Z")

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I assume that if a person has been dead so long that no one living at the present time was living when that person was alive then that person is “just plain dead.”

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**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-late/37634/3 "2000-10-20T10:57:17Z")

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‘Hurry up, Mr. Dent or you’ll be late.’  
‘What’s the rush?’  
‘I mean you’ll be the late Mr. Dent. It’s a threat, you see. I’ve never been very good at them. Although I did win an award for my fjords…’

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams.