I mean if we’re being prescriptivist about it, “autopsy” is preferable because it’s a noun while postmortem is an adjective, the terms “autopsy” and “postmortem examination” being synonyms.
gross
And I do kind of like the ring of “autopsy” because it evokes a sense of pulling all the organs out and sticking them in jar full of formaldehyde for display and to poke at in the future, because if 2016 is any indication the examination is going to last a good long while. Maybe we should start calling it a “mummification.”
Autopsy wasn’t used that way until the GOP started to use it (in the 2010s?) I assume they thought “postmortem” sounded too nerdy and democratic. Also postmortem can be used all by itself as in “The postmortem indicated that…”
I mean if we’re being prescriptivist about it, “autopsy” is preferable because it’s a noun while postmortem is an adjective, the terms “autopsy” and “postmortem examination” being synonyms.
gross
And I do kind of like the ring of “autopsy” because it evokes a sense of pulling all the organs out and sticking them in jar full of formaldehyde for display and to poke at in the future, because if 2016 is any indication the examination is going to last a good long while. Maybe we should start calling it a “mummification.”
Autopsy wasn’t used that way until the GOP started to use it (in the 2010s?) I assume they thought “postmortem” sounded too nerdy and democratic. Also postmortem can be used all by itself as in “The postmortem indicated that…”
True, it’s just funny that autopsy is the more technically correct term.