At 9:17 AM +1100 7/10/11, Geoffrey Heard wrote:
>============[snip]============
>I would suspect the notion of bring nice about the dead comes from 
>the fear of spirits coming back for vengeance in early spirit 
>worship, translated later into the notion of them sitting up there 
>in heaven with the ear of the god person.
>
>But meu deus, I'm just a cynical animal!  :)
>
>Cheers, geoff


Hi Geoff,

I have long understood this as a simple extension of two principles:

(1) If you can't say something positive, say nothing.
(Criticism is worthless, unless you have a better idea, in which case 
criticism is still worthless, and you should simply put forward the 
better idea)

(2) Don't talk about someone behind his/her back
(ie when they are not around to defend themselves)

OTOH, perhaps we shouldn't ruin the fun for those fortunate enough to 
occupy rocking chairs on the verandah overlooking the pearly gates, 
as they gaze down on former friends and foes: "So that's what the 
bastard really thought of me!!"