# You discover you'll be dead in less than two decades. How would you guess it happens? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2007, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897 "2007-03-28T21:49:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/41 "2007-03-29T06:19:57Z")
I’d love to say that I’ll be assassinated for spreading an overly powerful message of peace and love to the world, buuuuuuuuut, more likely I’ll be murdered upon insulting some random drunk after leaving a bar ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/42 "2007-03-29T06:29:05Z")
Right now I’m diabetic and I have congestive heart failure. I’ll turn 50 this year. I’m pretty sure that sometime in the next 20 years one or both of those diseases will do me in, unless we get medical nanobots that WORK real soon. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/43 "2007-03-29T07:27:43Z")
Nibbled to death by ducks. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/44 "2007-03-29T07:39:21Z")
I’d be surprised she gave me that long. I am expecting to be dead a lot sooner. No good reason, just an overall sense of personal doom has been preying on my mind for a while now. Like my destiny is converging to a point. Anyway, I expect to be hit by a car, when I daydream while walking across a road. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/45 "2007-03-29T08:05:01Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] I’d be surprised she gave me that long. I am expecting to be dead a lot sooner. No good reason, just an overall sense of personal doom has been preying on my mind for a while now. Like my destiny is converging to a point. [/QUOTE] Funny - I’ve been feeling that lately, the odd thing is that it isn’t a scary kind of doom at all - it’s more like, I dunno, knowing with resignation that a holiday must eventually end. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/46 "2007-03-29T09:06:00Z")
Heart disease. Possibly a cancer of some sort. Hopefully not a really slow wood chipper incident. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/47 "2007-03-29T09:27:21Z")
Considering that I’d be 40 or less, I really can’t figure, but it’d probably be something heart-related. No family history, but I have high blood pressure. But I maintain that when my time comes, I want to drown. > [@Skald the Rhymer](#): > > Dude, you’re I know you’re a lawyer, but you’re also a SOUTHERNER. My formidable research into this matter\* forces me to conclude that Southern lawyers _all_ have handguns, and that **Oakminster** is therefore living a bizarre fantasy of being a Northerner. I believe Freud referred to this as “blizzard envy”. - Consisting of John Grisham books and Boston Legal. > [@Oakminster](#): > > The thing about handguns is they aren’t much good against a sniper. A guy that really wants to take me out is prolly gonna do it by surprise attack from range. OK, but wouldn’t a victim of your family court prowess more likely to be too enraged to pull something that calculated? Wouldn’t it be a crime of passion, or at least closer to passion than cold revenge? I guess the reason I can’t see a ranged attack is that he’d really have to plan it, and at some stage in the planning he’d seemingly say “Wait a second–I have obvious motive and means. Surely I’ll be the first suspect.” ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/48 "2007-03-29T13:31:22Z")
Well, I’ll be less than 65 YO in 20, so it would probably be an unnatural death. Now given my stolid lifestyle, I’d say it will have to be a car accident. Unless we’re in for another run of really bad terrorism or a full-out war :eek: Then all bets are off. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/49 "2007-03-29T13:43:53Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] 20 years? Damn, I’d be only 51. Most likely car accident. (Aside: Where ya been, Skaldy? Missed ya.) [/QUOTE] I’ll write you a letter. ---
**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:** [March 29, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/50 "2007-03-29T20:17:51Z")
Since I’m already 61, it’s no big surprise that I might not survive another 20. The “projected” methods of my demise would be in the areas of diabetes/cardiovascular/hypertension. I’ve already got a couple nails in the coffin from these. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/51 "2007-03-29T20:33:07Z")
I’m not really bothered, save that it be quick and (relatively) painless. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/52 "2007-03-29T20:37:24Z")
I’ll probably get stabbed by a pregnant nun. Weird shit like that happens to me. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/53 "2007-03-29T21:54:40Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] I’ll probably get stabbed by a pregnant nun. Weird shit like that happens to me. [/QUOTE] No, no. Drowned in a sewage tank. ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/54 "2007-03-29T23:44:12Z")
Ill be 60ish, so probably from the governments new superannuation plan - ‘just walk into this booth sir’. Otara ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/55 "2007-03-30T00:02:33Z")
old age ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/56 "2007-03-30T14:27:54Z")
I’d still be relatively young, but the most likely cause of death from my family history would be cancer. Unfortunately. Maybe I could find a way to check out faster from something more fun than chemotherapy, wasting away, and shitting the bed. At least, I’d like to think I can come up with a better way to die than that. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/57 "2007-03-30T14:45:04Z")
I will be attacked and killed by a bear. I base this on a series of recurring dreams going back 12 years or so in which I am killed by bears. I have never died in any other dream, but if a bear appears I’m toast. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/58 "2007-03-31T01:53:00Z")
I have a habit of taking long walks at night. I live in the inner city, but the neighborhood is pretty safe. If you mind your business, people leave you alone. My husband hates that I take these walks at night, though. I told him, I would rather be free and enjoy my walks, even if it means I’m in danger of some psycho murdering me, than live a life in fear. Ever since I told him that, every time I am walking, I think, “Oh my goodness, I am gonna get murdered!” So, yeah. I would figure murdered by psycho whilst taking a late night stroll. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/59 "2007-03-31T02:05:31Z")
If I take after my mother, cancer. If I take after my father, a stroke. Which probably means I’ll slip in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2007, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897/60 "2007-03-31T02:13:51Z")
IED or Sniper. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-discover-youll-be-dead-in-less-than-two-decades-how-would-you-guess-it-happens/397897.md?page=4)