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Why are epitaphs on headstones so brief, minimal, and contain little to no biographical information about the deceased? (lemmy.world)

submitted 5 days ago by LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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I'm astounded that some people have lived such prolific noteworthy lives, were world-famous for decades, contributed so much, made life-changing inventions that the whole world benefitted from ...

Yet the only words on their headstone are like "Dad, Brother, Son, We love you."

Like WHAT?? He invented the xyz and had the leading role in 300 Hollywood films & 20 Guinness world records & discovered the cure for xyz and on & on ...

Why not mention any of that on their headstone?

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[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Epitaphs are written by those who loved & survived the decedent. So if they could financially afford the cost of some extra words engraved in stone, it would be a nice way to honor the person they loved.

[–] ArseAssassin@sopuli.xyz 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm much more impressed by someone being good to their loved ones than someone being rich or famous.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yes that's perfectly fine and nice and beautiful, but don't you think it's weird seeing celebrity gravestones that make no mention of the fact that they were famous and what they were known for?

Honestly my YouTube algorithm keeps giving me videos from "Scott On Tape" and "Dearly Departed Tours" who cover a lot of celebrity lore and graveyards, and that's why this is so prominent in my mind, there are a lot of famous people with very minimal headstones and I find it odd.

And then there's Frank Zappa who requested to be buried but no headstone whatsoever, not even his family is sure exactly where he is, they know the general area in the graveyard but it's unmarked. And that's how Frank Zappa wanted it 🤷🏼‍♀️

[–] ArseAssassin@sopuli.xyz 1 points 4 days ago

You're thinking about what these people mean to you, not what they mean to the people who buried them. When you're close to someone famous, they're not that impressive guy with hundreds of achievements, they're just dad, brother, son, beloved. I wouldn't want to be dehumanized by someone turning my headstone into a CV.

As for Zappa, he was a weird guy. You can tell by listening to any of his albums. Plenty of reason to love his music.