Actually, it’s very complex.So saying passed away is lower class whilst dead is
upper but I used both/either depending on who I was speaking to.
The receptionist at the surgery having asked:
What do YOU want? was told:
He is DEAD
but the gentle cab driver who asked was told,
he has passed away ,
and he wept [being a foreigner ,you see]
I feel irked that people still bother about those things and shall use the lower class ones as much as possible; so I am just making the tea now after visiting the toilet and finding a serviette and some tinned fruit to have for the sweet.[not in the toilet,of course.]
How my heart sings 