Non-Fiction

Freelancer

(2,107 posts) Thu Oct 18, 2018, 02:03 AM Oct 2018

I need help finding a word

I'm a bit stuck. This looks like a group that might be able to help.

I'm trying to find a word or succinct phrase that describes an action set in motion by a person's death. This action would be due to an instruction in a will. I'm not talking about bequeathing property, but rather a physical event like a party that's been prepaid for months or years, but waits to happen until right after the person dies.

Any suggestions?

8 replies

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I need help finding a word (Original Post) Freelancer Oct 2018 OP

aa wake? nt msongs Oct 2018 #1

Not quite what I'm after - see next response - nt Freelancer Oct 2018 #3

"Posthumous". Maybe that word doesn't have the feel you want, for a party, though. No Vested Interest Oct 2018 #2

I'm looking for a word with a curious hook to it... Freelancer Oct 2018 #5

This is not an exact match, but your description reminded me of... Timer Oct 2018 #4

You read my mind as I was typing. Thanks. -nt Freelancer Oct 2018 #6

Is this going to be on the midterm? grantcart Oct 2018 #7

Like this ? eppur_se_muova Oct 2018 #8

msongs

(70,170 posts)

1. aa wake? nt

Reply to Freelancer (Original post)

Thu Oct 18, 2018, 02:13 AM

Oct 2018

Freelancer

(2,107 posts)

3. Not quite what I'm after - see next response - nt

Reply to msongs (Reply #1)

Thu Oct 18, 2018, 02:38 AM

Oct 2018

No Vested Interest

(5,196 posts)

2. "Posthumous". Maybe that word doesn't have the feel you want, for a party, though.

Reply to Freelancer (Original post)

Thu Oct 18, 2018, 02:16 AM

Oct 2018

There's always "wake." They seem to be held after a death.

Freelancer

(2,107 posts)

5. I'm looking for a word with a curious hook to it...

Reply to No Vested Interest (Reply #2)

Thu Oct 18, 2018, 02:46 AM

Oct 2018

I always loved the word "tontine" as it figured into the movie "The Wrong Box." I was hoping to find an obscure word, on that order, for an event set up before, but then triggered by someones death.

It's not really a party, in particular, that I'm talking about. I just used that as an example. Sorry to be cagey, but I'm asking advice on a list with writers and don't want to divulge too much.

Maybe "wake" with a bit more around it. Thinking... Thinking...

Thanks, though!

Timer

(71 posts)

4. This is not an exact match, but your description reminded me of...

Reply to Freelancer (Original post)

Thu Oct 18, 2018, 02:40 AM

Oct 2018

am episode of the "MASH" TV series in which Col. Potter held a sad get-together in his tent when he found out he was the last survivor of his WWI comrades. They had made an agreement that the last survivor would get a bottle of champagne (I think) which they had liberated in 1918. He said the agreement was a tontine.

MW.com defined "tontine" as : "a joint financial arrangement whereby the participants usually contribute equally to a prize that is awarded entirely to the participant who survives all the others."