Maybe this is a cultural difference
My cousin in the US, who for context is a doctor in her mid-30s at a California hospital, posted on Facebook two days ago: "Prayers, please. My grandma broke her hip and is now in hospice."
Hmm. Can't help you there, as I might have been able to if you'd said "prayers or good thoughts" or something to that effect. Presumably what you actually mean is "I am sad as a result of this and would appreciate support" and what you said is unremarkable shorthand in the US? Or do you literally mean you want prayers, as in, you believe they might do something for your grandmother, who is in her mid-90s? If so, do you want prayers that she'll recover, or that she'll die quickly?
Yesterday she posted "Grandma went to heaven today."
I read that and thought, if you believe in such things, that's nice, isn't it? It's supposed to be a lovely place? Good news, under the circumstances?
But no, there were 28 comments saying, "I'm so sorry!", which seemed totally incongruous to me, assuming that most of the commenters also thought that heaven was a nice place. Presumably what she meant and what I was supposed to be able to translate was that she was sad her grandmother had died. One way or another, I can't bring myself to respond to news couched in those terms.
Hmm. Can't help you there, as I might have been able to if you'd said "prayers or good thoughts" or something to that effect. Presumably what you actually mean is "I am sad as a result of this and would appreciate support" and what you said is unremarkable shorthand in the US? Or do you literally mean you want prayers, as in, you believe they might do something for your grandmother, who is in her mid-90s? If so, do you want prayers that she'll recover, or that she'll die quickly?
Yesterday she posted "Grandma went to heaven today."
I read that and thought, if you believe in such things, that's nice, isn't it? It's supposed to be a lovely place? Good news, under the circumstances?
But no, there were 28 comments saying, "I'm so sorry!", which seemed totally incongruous to me, assuming that most of the commenters also thought that heaven was a nice place. Presumably what she meant and what I was supposed to be able to translate was that she was sad her grandmother had died. One way or another, I can't bring myself to respond to news couched in those terms.