funeral vs committal
Opinicus
"There was to be no funeral, just the committal, because the deceased had no family or friends left."
The meaning is pretty clear but the sentence set me to wondering: What is the formal difference between the two?
(An ancillary question: Is the capital "W" and "I" after a colon correct? I've been using it a lot lately...
--
Bob
Foça, Turkey
---
Kanyak's Doghouse <http://www.geocities.com/kanyak.geo>
arjay
news:s11bo1...@news.supernews.com...
I came across this sentence this evening:
"There was to be no funeral, just the committal, because the deceased
had no family or friends left."
The meaning is pretty clear but the sentence set me to wondering: What
is the formal difference between the two?
(An ancillary question: Is the capital "W" and "I" after a colon
correct? I've been using it a lot lately...
--
Bob
Foça, Turkey
COD9 (always available on my hard drive) gives "the burial of a corpse"
for committal, while a funeral is "the burial or cremation of a dead
person with its ceremonies."
Local usage varies. Sometimes "funeral" refers to everything *but* the
actual burial, with the graveyard attendants waiting discreetly for the
family and/or friends to leave the area before lowering the casket.
Further, a ceremony which includes, and continues beyond the actual
burial is sometimes called an "interment" in my part of the world.
Small-circulation newspapers have been known to post notices with a
slight spelling error. "The Internment of Mr Smith will take place at
____ Cemetery."
I can't answer your ancillary question, since you haven't asked one.
I'd call that a supplementary question.
An upper case 'W' after a colon as in your first example has become
accepted journalese in North America. Like it or not (and I don't) it
seems here to stay.
The upper case 'I' in your second example would be against the rules I
learned long ago. But, since in this instance the words preceding the
colon do not form a principal clause and constitute something of an
announcement, I would find it acceptable except in formal writing.
arjay
David Wright
>(An ancillary question: Is the capital "W" and "I" after a colon
>correct? I've been using it a lot lately...
>
>--
>Bob
>Foça, Turkey
When I was an editor-of-copy-and-headline-writer, I followed the
convention that the first letter after the colon was to be capitalized
if the words made sense as a complete sentence. For headlines, though,
lower case didn't look right to me. I never had anyone call me on it,
so I just went ahead and capitalized the first letter after the colon
every time.
David
James Silverton
>
> 1. The funeral is the ceremony, the committal is the actual putting of the
> body in the ground.
>
> 2. Don't use capitals after a colon, unless of course the word must begin
> with one (eg. the 'w' of 'what' doesn't need a capital, but 'I' (1st person
> sing.) would because 'I' is always capitalised.
>
> Opinicus wrote in message ...
> I came across this sentence this evening:
>
> "There was to be no funeral, just the committal, because the deceased had no
> family or friends left."
>
> The meaning is pretty clear but the sentence set me to wondering: What is
> the formal difference between the two?
>
> I've been using it a lot lately...
Incidentally, I have noticed the Irish press uses the term "removal" as
in the obsequies for the late Prime Minister Jack Lynch. How does that
fit into your definitions?
Alasdair Baxter
wrote:
>There was to be no funeral, just the committal, because the deceased had no family or friends left
For me, a funeral is the ceremony and other rituals associated with
the decent disposal of a human corpse and includes the actual
depositing in the grave. A Christian funeral is usually in two parts.
There is a service (called the funeral service) in church or at the
home of the deceased to which all who wish to pay their last respects
are implicitly invited. This is followed by a journey to the grave
site where the body is "committed to the earth" with a short service
attended by close friends and relatives. With cremation, the body is
"committed to the flames".
In some circumstances, the two ceremonies are rolled into one where
for example a crematorium chapel is used or the physical distance
between the church and the grave site is short.
Funeral practices vary across the UK. In Scotland, the coffin is
lowered into the grave by means of 8 cords permanently attached to it.
The chief mourner (usually the husband or eldest son) takes the head
cord, the next son or a brother takes the feet cord and other friends
and relatives take the side cords.
In England, it is the funeral director's men who lower the coffin with
straps passed under it which are later recovered for re-use.
--
Alasdair Baxter, Nottingham, UK.Tel +44 115 9705100; Fax +44 115 9423263
"It's not what you say that matters but how you say it.
It's not what you do that matters but how you do it"
Coilin O'Broin
>
>Incidentally, I have noticed the Irish press uses the term "removal" as
>in the obsequies for the late Prime Minister Jack Lynch. How does that
>fit into your definitions?
the term 'removal' here refers to the practice of moving the body
to the church, usually the day before the funeral (which would
include the commital).
Coilin.