Dear Editor,
It’s been difficult to exactly trace back the commencement of the overused phrase “tributes have been paid”, often employed to relay news of a person’s death, in print and various other media forms. Could it be possible that an editorial resolution led to this monotonous phrase being used so widely? It seems unlikely that all journalists willingly resort to this exhausted, cliché euphemism to report on the death of individuals, regardless of their fame or anonymity.
Yours sincerely,
John O’Donovan,
Dublin 2.