# What Do You Really Want on Your Gravestone and Another Question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 23, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887 "2012-05-23T22:58:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/21 "2012-05-24T18:55:51Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > “If it weren’t for my horse, I wouldn’t have spent that year in college.” Brilliant! I am also one who would not have a gravestone - the mere idea of being buried is kind of anathema to me. But if I must, I’d either have some sort of pithy, short saying, or something like “Here Lies a Proud Nerd.” ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/22 "2012-05-24T18:59:19Z")
I’m thinking “hello, I must be going” would be appropriate. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/23 "2012-05-24T19:24:40Z")
> [@cynyc](#): > > Aw. You must be a baby. No CD BACKSLASH? No, just can’t figure out what an Alt-stone is. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/24 "2012-05-24T19:33:45Z")
No burial for me, but if I was, I’d like: “You should see the other guy!” ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/25 "2012-05-24T19:39:55Z")
I want “We purchased this stone to honor him after death, but he’s still alive, year after year, and having a great time, so we finally just stuck it here for the irony.” ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/26 "2012-05-24T20:20:16Z")
_ **SPOILER ALERT** _ In the end, I died. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/27 "2012-05-24T21:21:51Z")
“Not again!” When I lived in NYC, I was convinced I was going to get hit by a bus or cab at some point. I wanted to give the tourists a little comedy during the accident/death. So I practiced and practiced saying “Not again!” everytime I tripped or dropped something in order to hone my reflexes to use it instead of profanity, etc. I was eventually asked by everyone to knock it off as it wasn’t funny any more. Similarly, it works fantastically on the headstone. But I think a comedy headstone memorial would get old quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/28 "2012-05-24T21:27:28Z")
“When there’s no more room in Hell The Dead will walk the Earth” ---
**Author:** ![cynyc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@cynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cynyc)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/29 "2012-05-24T21:38:30Z")
I’m loving this–some are hilarious. (I don’t get the horse one. :-() OK. Most of us don’t want to be buried and so on. But I’m not talking graves I’m just talking stones. I remembered two stories last night: SOmewhere sometime I read that Thurgood Marshall wanted his to say–“I did the best with what I had to work with.” Then an old dear friend, now dead, was a labor arbitrator–he said he wanted his to go something like this: A lifetime of argument has left me in this plight. (But) suppose, just suppose the other guy was right. As for me, while what I learned about my life was that I should’ve whined more, I’m liking “Get off my lawn” more. Remember there are 3 choices in order of preference. 😉 Maybe we’ll hold a vote as well. Oh and Nemo–you have me tearing up here. SNiffle. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/30 "2012-05-24T21:41:36Z")
How’s about: ```auto main() { printf("goodbye, world "); } ``` ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/31 "2012-05-24T21:52:23Z")
Husband and I want the following: His: (Name) (dates) “REPENT!” Mine: (Name) (dates) Unrepentant Note: He plays a Puritan at the Renaissance Faire. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2012, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/32 "2012-05-24T23:15:23Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I want a ctrl-alt-delete stone. I want a command-option-escape (Mac) stone. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/33 "2012-05-24T23:25:46Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I want a ctrl-alt-delete stone. > [@cynyc](#): > > Aw. You must be a baby. No CD BACKSLASH? > [@panache45](#): > > I want a command-option-escape (Mac) stone. I guess an atheist would have ALT-F4… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/34 "2012-05-24T23:47:46Z")
Personally, I’m fine with having my organs harvested and my carcass dropped in a ditch somewhere, but the real answer is “whatever my family wants”, since the gravestone/site is for them, not me. I certainly won’t give a shit (except maybe a small turd expelled by fermentation gases). ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/35 "2012-05-25T00:59:54Z")
Hilarious. As usual I’d have to take my own death way too seriously. It would say, “What is to give light must endure burning.”. Pretty much my life philosophy. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/36 "2012-05-25T02:07:38Z")
Since 1986 I have told my family that what will go on my headstone is “I am NOT a piece of playground equipment!” I thought they had forgotten all about that, but recently, both my kids, now parents themselves, have mentioned it to me. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/37 "2012-05-25T02:17:16Z")
I make fun of a lot of things, but I’ve always felt that a gravestone should be a serious thing. Ideally, a final expression of conviction, of one’s innermost faith. In many ways, the choice of what you put on your gravestone is your very last chance to make things right with your God. Accordingly, I’d have to go with “Ia! Ia! Cthulhu ftaghn!” ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/38 "2012-05-25T02:19:47Z")
Napier 1957 - 2273 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/39 "2012-05-25T03:01:50Z")
> [@cynyc](#): > > OK. Most of us don’t want to be buried and so on. But I’m not talking graves I’m just talking stones. But I feel it really is a different concept. An actual gravestone marks the spot where your body lies - your mortality gives the epitaph its strength. Because you can have only one true gravestone, what’s written on it can serve as a reflection on your entire existence. But an “alt-stone”? That just shows you had a couple hundred bucks you felt like spending. Like Dr Drake said, it’s a bumper sticker carved on a rock. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887/40 "2012-05-25T10:06:53Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > Since 1986 I have told my family that what will go on my headstone is “I am NOT a piece of playground equipment!” I thought they had forgotten all about that, but recently, both my kids, now parents themselves, have mentioned it to me. Your kids, in their early years of parenting, have surely been reminded of it by the actions of _their_ kids. I’ll miss it when the Firebug’s too big to use me as a piece of playground equipment. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-really-want-on-your-gravestone-and-another-question/622887.md?page=3)