Whatever Happened To "Rest In Peace?"

Oh, those wacky Canadians . . .

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadians are becoming wordier, particularly when it comes to their last words. Alberta-based author Nancy Millar has wandered the country's graveyards and says that over the past 20 years, gravestone epitaphs have begun to illustrate a trend of Canadians wanting to be more than "eternally beloved" when they "rest in peace."

"I was trying to show that Canadians are interesting and can be interesting in their graveyards," she said about her book, "The Final Word: The Book of Canadian Epitaphs."

Many of the nontraditional epitaphs noted in the book are whimsical.

"This wasn't my idea," complains a gravestone near Salmon Arm, British Columbia.

A Saskatoon headstone reads: "I'd rather be in Boston watching the Red Sox," and in Manitoba, a widely used epitaph, according to Millar, is "I told you I was sick." (H/T - Yahoo!)

Personally, I think these verbose epitaphs are as useless as vegetables in Michael Moore's house. People are not walking around their local cemetery for a good laugh. Can you imagine the scene?

"Yeah, it's a shame that grandma passed, but her tombstone has me laughing my arse off!"

When I go, I want something that simple that tells everyone what kind of person I was:

Wyatt Earp
1969-2049
Fat Guy