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[-] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 28 points 9 months ago

Fun fact! It used to be called the parlor and was basically only used for home funerals, so was casually called the death room. When the funeral industry became a thing, rebranding it as "the living room" was an effort by the Ladies Home Journal in 1910 to get rid of the creepy feeling most people associated with that room, to make it a nice place for families to hang out while still alive.

https://armls.com/step-into-the-death-room

[-] tryptaminev@feddit.de 21 points 9 months ago

i strongly doubt that many people had the money for a room that they just used to present someones body if they died.

[-] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

It was also used for formally entertaining guests and wedding receptions. It was where the expensive furniture and good dishes were kept, that you didn't really use except when trying to impress people. So yes, it wasn't for families who lived in a one room, dirt floor hovel, or families that had servants and many formal entertaining rooms that they could afford to use regularly and maintain, but if you were middle class and had enough for a "good room" that you wanted to "save for best" then that was what it was used for. https://www.simplysoldaz.com/the-death-room/

Also- 30% of people died before the age of 5 in 1900 England and USA, so it's not like they rarely had occasion to use it.

There's a part in one of the Disc World books by Terry Pratchett (which are fiction, but roughly analogous to that time period in England) where we are being introduced to Granny Weatherwax (a witch) and it is said of her that she never ever uses the front door of her own house, because that is for brides and corpses and she didn't plan on ever being either of those.

[-] Acamon@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

My parents grew up in working class 1950s Britain. My dad's parents slept in the kitchen (with a curtain round the bed for privacy), which was also the room that most "living" was done. The three kids shared a single small room, with both teenage boys sharing a double bed, their older sister got her own single bed, and she stayed there until she married and moved out in her early twenties. I remember seeing that room and even as a child it seemed cramped, no space really for anything else once the two beds were in it.

While the whole the family was living, eating and sleeping in two small room, an immaculate "front room" / parlour was kept solely for the two or three days a year where they had "company" (a family event like a wedding or funeral, or the priest visiting or something). The front room was bigger than both the others. It's hard to comprehend the priorities that led to this sort of thing, but it was apparently extremely common in that time and place.

[-] Arelin@lemmy.zip 6 points 9 months ago

Our lore is weird

[-] Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca 23 points 9 months ago

One of the previous owners of my house died in the living room about 5 feet from where I'm sitting right now.

[-] spacecowboy@sh.itjust.works 21 points 9 months ago

Doesn’t the smell bother you?

[-] Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca 17 points 9 months ago

Only for the first few months.

[-] Pons_Aelius@kbin.social 14 points 9 months ago

Cashing their pension cheques makes up for it.

[-] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

Dang. But how is it possible to die in the room that's designated for living? 🤔

[-] Rocketpoweredgorilla@lemmy.ca 9 points 9 months ago

Talent. And the heart attack probably helped a little.

[-] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 5 points 9 months ago

They were contrarians, I guess.

[-] cuchilloc@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Maybe the trick is never entering the living room in the first place. What is dead may never die.

[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

And with strange aeons even death may die.

[-] xoggy@programming.dev 3 points 9 months ago

Living room is by the front door so setting up the hospice bed in the large room with the easiest access to the exit makes sense.

[-] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Hospice? Exit door? Not necessary in the Eternal Life™️ schematic.

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 22 points 9 months ago

Spending a lot of time sitting or otherwise not standing up/moving around increases the risk of death. I say from my couch.

[-] ilovesatan@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

Nobody said you couldn't exercise in the living room.

[-] Unicorn@lemmy.ml 3 points 9 months ago

A mini gym sounds like a good idea

[-] abbadon420@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago

But.. that would make it a gym room

[-] jaybone@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

Who said you can’t die in the living room?

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[-] MadBabs@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago

I wonder what room in the house is most often died in (what's the dying room?). Bedroom? Kitchen?

[-] hperrin@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

The masturbatorium.

[-] Engywuck@lemm.ee 8 points 9 months ago

Badroom, obviously!

[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Gonna guess bedroom, as we're most vulnerable while sleeping, whether from external forces or internal.

[-] Chetzemoka@startrek.website 2 points 9 months ago

Bathroom? Going out Elvis style

[-] feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

It is the room that lives, not its occupants.

[-] zaine00@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Reminded me of SCP-002.

I don't have a living room. Am I fucked?

Or can I exist on a technicality that any room I live in, is a living room, and therefore if I never leave my bedroom or game hobby room, I'm good, right?

... R-Right?

[-] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

yeah, just eat healthy and exercise and drink plenty of water and you'll be free to roam the earth.

[-] EvolvedTurtle@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

The earth is my living room

[-] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 6 points 9 months ago

This is why they don't have a living room in Clue

[-] flicker@kbin.social 4 points 9 months ago

The living room is red herring.

[-] evdo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 9 months ago

Leave the living room at once. It knows you're there.

[-] ohwhatfollyisman@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

and take care of your liver.

[-] theodewere@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago

but the treats are generally stored elsewhere

[-] Deceptichum@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago

You can eat treats or you can live long, you decide.

[-] Burninator05@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

I wonder if there is a way to either store treats in the living room or if someone could be persuaded to bring treats in when desired?

[-] Deceptichum@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago

I suppose there’s nothing stopping you picking up food orders from your living room window provided your hands don’t leave the confines of the room.

[-] Hupf@feddit.de 2 points 9 months ago

What is a long life without treats but a hollow one?

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[-] NorthWestWind@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

The mathematician defines the entire R3 space as living room

[-] CarlsIII@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago

“Living room” is just a name we came up with. Just rename everything else to “living ____”, such as “living car”, “living office”, or “living restaurant”.

[-] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

I guess I'm going to die in my sleep then, because there's no way I'm ever calling it my "living bed".

[-] DontTreadOnBigfoot@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

Sad mimic noises

[-] HubertManne@kbin.social 3 points 9 months ago

just don't get into anything called a death bed no matter how much you have something you want to say.

[-] ripcord@kbin.social 3 points 9 months ago

Especially not one that eats

[-] jeena@jemmy.jeena.net 2 points 9 months ago

But we have a German saying "Daheim sterben die Leut'." which means "People die at home.

[-] cuchilloc@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

My education is fiction so: Valar Morghulis (GOT), and Live together die Alone (LOST).

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this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
235 points (88.3% liked)

Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

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