can't they were dying 'cus they weren't!

[crisgal]

does anyone else find this odd?
I find it strange that we can't say that someone was so ill, or injured that they were 'dying' if they then go on to survive.

Do you know what I mean?
In a newspaper report, say of someone in a car crash, they would say (if the person subsequently died) that they lay 'dying' while awaiting help.
BUT, if they go on to survive, no matter how near death they were, it will never say that they were dying.
It's as if simply because they lived, and didn't die, then they couldn't have been dying.
But I think they were dying, almost dead, but managed to survive, so why can't we say they were dying?

[crisgal]

whoops! "can't SAY " that should read!

[factor-fiction]

Perhaps because we don't know whether they would have died.
But we do say "left for dead"- does that phrase still apply if the person's life was then saved?

[AB Editor]

"But I think they were dying, almost dead, but managed to survive, so why can't we say they were dying?"

I think you "can" say that... but you're equating dying with what's known as "living"! Possibly the philosophers and a metaphysicists union put the squeeze on whoever is stopping you from saying this?

It's a tense issue really.

[AB Editor]

""left for dead"- does that phrase still apply if the person's life was then saved?"

Yes, I think so, assuming it wasn't the same person who saved them?

[crisgal]

so if they did survive - were they dying?

[crisgal]

i think 'left for dead' means that they were abandoned, as if already dead, doesn't it?

[Ankou]

would it not be more appropriate to say they were fighting for their lives.

of course, even that might be wrong in a literary sense, as it conjures up images of them having fisticuffs with lord ankou of the underworld. and that won't happen, not for survivors anyway.

[AB Editor]

"so if they did survive - were they dying?"

I would suggest that, in surviving that particular moment, they've only increased the amount of time they'll be "dying" for.

I have a feeling this isn't helpful.

[tommy-h]

Dying to pee got to ggooo

[crisgal]

lol at tommy - did you survive?

[tommy-h]

only just!tee hee

[crisgal]

you weren't dying for it then!!

[tommy-h]

To coin a phrase

[tommy-h]

Alas her indoors sees the wee.I point at dog,get off scot free.

[crisgal]

eeww - where did you wee?!

[tommy-h]

Did not mean to divert attention from an interesting thread.People especially at deaths door should be given comfort.I could only hope for it for my nearest

[Quizmonster]

Unless the circumstances are such that death is instantaneous, dying is essentially a 'process' over a period of time. If that process is brought to a halt, I can see no reason why - up until the stop-point - it cannot be referred to as 'dying'. It does not seem relevant that the process did not continue to its expected end.

[crisgal]

^^what he said!

[heathfield]

Normally, the person's condition would be described as 'critical', meaning that their death is a possibility. But, as they also say, 'While there's life, there's hope'.

[wildwood]

We are all in the process of dying.

The placebo affect is a powerful aid to physical recovery. Tell a person that they are dying and the % of surviving goes down.

They can only report that a person was laying there dying after that person died, unless they were diagnosed terminal by a proper doctor.

When I was the Secretary of a hobby club, I stopped sending get well cards to seriously ill members. I can't think of any worse for the family than a get well card for someone who's just kicked the bucket.