Sad about death certificate (tw: suicide)

[rosie99]

I have to say, especially as a long term member of Rootschat, I'm surprised and a bit offended that several people can read a title saying "sad about death certificate" with details of an ancestor who died horribly and derail and reduce the entire thing to complaining about my use of two letters (and yes, I am myself below 40). Sorry, but shame on anyone who thinks that is the primary point of this thread.

I don't think anyone was complaining I certainly was not, just wondering what the tw stood for.  I have a family member that committed suicide in the 1950's so can understand how you feel.  They lost their wife (my aunt) and even though they remarried they never got over it.

[Andrew Tarr]

Zaphod: Tw means "trigger warning" In other words, 'be warned, sensitive topic'

A rather dubious warning if it isn't understood ? 

Respectfully, I'd argue that it would be understood by most people under the age of, lets say, 40.

Respectfully or not, your (presumably underestimated) age-limit is about half my age.  But it may also be true that many RootsChatters are above it anyway, so your 'tw' will possibly not be understood by the majority 

But as has been suggested, trigger warnings are a daft idea anyway.  If anyone is seriously offended by something which has not been intended to offend, whose is the problem ?

[oldohiohome]

I have to say, especially as a long term member of Rootschat, I'm surprised and a bit offended that several people can read a title saying "sad about death certificate" with details of an ancestor who died horribly and derail and reduce the entire thing to complaining about my use of two letters (and yes, I am myself below 40). Sorry, but shame on anyone who thinks that is the primary point of this thread.

Part of the failure to communicate here might be due to the fact that by the time you have done family history for 20 years or so, as many of us have, you have seen just about everything. And maybe we didn't stop to take note of the fact that this was your ancestor, not some stranger's death record, as he is to the rest of us.

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Some people gasp when they find out their grandmother was pregnant when she married. - Both my grandmother and my wife's were. One of them had to wait to marry because she wasn't legally old enough - she had to be 16.

Some people gasp when they find 14 year olds working in cotton mills. It happened all the time. I've seen a few where they were joined in the mill by their 12 year old sibling.

Others gasp at suicide. My father's uncle killed himself shortly after retiring. My grandmother's aunt also took her own life, I haven't researched possible motives. Personally I was glad to learn about both - not that I was glad about what they did but because it helps explain why I have felt the way I do most of my life.

In your 4th g grandfather's case, being 69 years old might have been a good enough reason. (I am older. Ask me how I feel some days. On second thought, don't.)

I have managed to decipher a few later generation acronyms, just not "tw", so thanks for explaining. Next time I will know.

[Zaphod99]

Ayashi, where was my complaint? I just saw it and didn't know what it meant and asked.  There do seem to be dozens if not hundreds of cryptic abbreviations these days.  I'm not even really sure what a trigger warning actually is.

There is a type of software called a text expander which allows you to create an entry for an abbreviation, and each time you type that abbreviation it will then expand it to whatever the letters represent.

Ideally abbreviations and initialisms should only be used if they are absolutely every day expressions.

Zaph

[coombs]

Pandy's Box will always be opened if you dig into your family history. I have an ancestor who took his own life in 1894, and I found this out 20 years ago but was not too fazed, it happened.

I found a direct ancestor was transported in 1791 for theft and was very pleased to find one sent to the other side of the world. He stole a hog, but I feel he had good intentions, he wanted to feed his family.

I have a few ancestors who were illegitimate, and a ancestor who had an illegitimate child before she married, as well as several ancestors siblings/cousins who had one or more baseborn children.

[Andrew Tarr]

There is a type of software called a text expander which allows you to create an entry for an abbreviation, and each time you type that abbreviation it will then expand it to whatever the letters represent.

That sounds like fun.  Quite a few acronyms have several meanings, depending on context ! Perhaps we should confine ourselves to the familiar email ones, like IIRC and as far as I know ?

[Alison55]

I think it's always best to avoid acronyms and even slang.  It's amazing how fast these become out of date or are not understood by many who read them.  I had no idea what "tw" was and it will be an interesting Thanksgiving table poll.  If you want to be understood, use words that are in the dictionary.

[Zaphod99]

I find some of the American slang used in Facebook family history groups totally incomprehensible. Anyone under about 40 seems to have developed an almost totally different language. And the one that really gets me is the people that don't put I or we or they at the beginning of a sentence.  Sometimes it totally changes the meaning of what they intended to say.

The other problem with Facebook is that as DNA tests get cheaper and cheaper, more and more people who know less and less about the whole concept are asking increasingly banal questions.  Even the ones suggested, like if I recall correctly and as far as I know, you don't even need them. You wouldn't type something if you didn't recall it or know it. And humble opinions are very rarely that.

Going back to the original topic of abbreviations, the other alternative is to install a speech to text keyboard such as Gboard and dictate things rather than typing them. Then you don't need to bother with abbreviations.  I hardly type anything these days. It's also brilliant for anyone who doesn't have good fingers.  Look into it.

Zaph

[Ruskie]

I think many of us have ancestors who committed suicide. Mine was a great grandfather and I know what led to that.

Through research in Archives I’ve noted numerous cases like your ancestors horrific method of suicide. Its not something you hear about today, unless it is kept from the public as these details usually are.

Presumably your first task is to confirm that that is the death certificate of your ancestor as you didn’t seem 100% sure?

You may find some clues as to the reason if you thoroughly research his life, though unless something jumps out you will only be guessing. Does his family life seem to have been happy and stable? Was he gainfully employed? Was he in financial trouble? In trouble with the law? Anything of enough interest to be newsworthy (old newspaper reports)? Just those usual things to explore. Have you looked for asylum records in case he had some underlying mental issues or depression which may have caused him to be admitted for treatment?

To add my two pence worth, Rootschatters have seen it all so I don’t think any trigger warnings are necessary - nothing shocks us, especially it happened generations ago. I didn’t even notice the “tw” in the subject heading.