I've never been a huge supporter of the phrase "passed away".
How's your uncle?
Oh, he passed away last year.
George Carlin wrote a lot about words that hide reality, or euphemisms. By the way, he stole (borrowed?) all that from me, but I forgive him. He passed away. I mean – died.
Not only does passed away cover up the one reality we all have to face, it's used inconsistently.
We only use it for a single person death. George passed away.
You never hear this: a 747 crashed and 230 people passed away. 300 million people passed away from smallpox. Suddenly, it's okay to say "died".
300 million people dead is a far greater tragedy, so you'd think we would mask it even more. Did you hear, 300 million people became "unalive". It makes no sense.
There are other problems. Passed away is too similar to phrases like "passed gas", "passed the buck", or "passed out drunk". All negative.
Even worse than "passed away" is "passed on". That implies that the person has gone on to something else and, naturally, it's much better than life. I don't care how many "frequent dier" points you have, you will not be cashing them in for a trip to passed away land with lush green grass and a comfortable bench. Okay, I have no proof of this, but no one has proof of the opposite either.
Anyway, time for a nap. I'm passed away tired.
