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Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 12 posts ] 
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 Post subject: "Coffin" or "Casket"?
PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2004 1:11 pm 
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Location: Bethesda, Md.
Coffin.


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 Post subject: Re: "Coffin" or "Casket"?
PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2004 6:35 pm 
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Location: Homebush NSW Australia
Coffin. And way out of place hearing Australian media types using casket.


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 Post subject: Re: "Coffin" or "Casket"?
PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 2:43 pm 
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Location: New Brunswick, Canada
Unless you are referring to the newspaper in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, which is called - for reasons completely beyond me - The Casket.


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 Post subject: Re: "Coffin" or "Casket"?
PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 3:37 pm 
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Location: N 36° 57' 9", W 121° 24' 2"
I looked up both in Webster's and didn't see any difference, other than "casket" being an Americanism. Why the preference?


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 Post subject: Re: "Coffin" or "Casket"?
PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 4:07 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Oeditpus Rex:
I looked up both in Webster's and didn't see any difference, other than "casket" being an Americanism. Why the preference?<hr></blockquote><p>
"Casket" is used by morticians to mean a fancy coffin. Let's just call it a coffin. (I'm sure Reagan's coffin is of high quality but it doesn't look especially flashy.)<p>Aside: That "Eterna-rest adjustable bedding system" is pretty tempting. "I'd hate to have poor lumbar support when I'm dead," a wag quipped.<p>[ June 10, 2004: Message edited by: blanp ]</p>


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 Post subject: Re: "Coffin" or "Casket"?
PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 4:58 pm 
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Location: Over by there
Who knew there was a coffin called the Last Supper? egad! <p> <blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by blanp:
<p>
"Casket" is used by morticians to mean a fancy coffin. Let's just call it a coffin. (I'm sure Reagan's coffin is of high quality but it doesn't look especially flashy.)<p>Aside: That "Eterna-rest adjustable bedding system" is pretty tempting. "I'd hate to have poor lumbar support when I'm dead," a wag quipped.<p>[ June 10, 2004: Message edited by: blanp ]
<hr></blockquote>


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 Post subject: Re: "Coffin" or "Casket"?
PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:37 pm 
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<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by blanp:
"Casket" is used by morticians <hr></blockquote>I thought it was "funeral directors" now.


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 Post subject: Re: "Coffin" or "Casket"?
PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 9:51 pm 
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Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 12:01 am
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Location: California
Or is it Eternity-based REALTORS®?


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 Post subject: Re: "Coffin" or "Casket"?
PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 10:40 pm 
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Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2003 1:01 am
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Location: South Carolina
Worse yet ... http://www.funeraldepot.com/returntosender.htm


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 Post subject: Re: "Coffin" or "Casket"?
PostPosted: Fri Jun 11, 2004 9:19 am 
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Location: Cusp of retirement, grave or both
Or, as Pete Zicari might recall, there was what the Post-Standard in Syracuse once called it in a front-page caption about a local Marine who died in the '82 Beirut barracks bombing:<p>
AN HONOR GUARD carries the flag-draped coffee of Lance Cpl. John Doe.....<p>Needless to say, his parents were quite upset.


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 Post subject: Re: "Coffin" or "Casket"?
PostPosted: Fri Jun 11, 2004 10:11 am 
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Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2004 12:01 am
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Regardless of what the dictionary says, it's my understanding that in the funeral business that caskets are, indeed, different from coffins --and it's more than just being 'fancier.' According to www.funeralplan.com (and other sources i've checked with), caskets are rectangular but coffins are those six-sided things you sometimes see in vampire movies. They're wider at the shoulders and taper toward the feet.


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 Post subject: Re: "Coffin" or "Casket"?
PostPosted: Sun Jun 13, 2004 3:55 pm 
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Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2004 12:01 am
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Location: Ireland
<blockquote><font size="1" face="TImes, TimesNR, serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by dkg:
According to www.funeralplan.com (and other sources i've checked with), caskets are rectangular but coffins are those six-sided things you sometimes see in vampire movies. They're wider at the shoulders and taper toward the feet.<hr></blockquote><p>This is certainly a US thing. In Europe there is no such thing as a casket. Then again, I've never seen a US-style 'casket' here; all coffins are of the 'vampiric' type over here, so maybe that is the difference.<p>My €0.02.<p>J...


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