The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
You Say "Unalive," He Says "Vixerunt": Everything Old Is New Again
For thus the TikTokers who wish to avoid words of ill omen indicate death.
AP, July 13, 2023, "unalive":
"Unalive" refers to death by suicide or homicide. It can function as adjective or verb and joins similar phrasing — like "mascara," to mean sexual assault — coined by social media users [especially on TikTok -EV] as a workaround to fool algorithms on sites and apps that censor posts containing discussion of explicit or violent content.
Plutarch, Life of Cicero, written circa AD 100; the Latin word for "they have lived" is apparently "vixerunt" ("third-person plural perfect active indicative of vīvō"):
And seeing that many members of [Catiline's] conspiracy were still assembled in the forum in ignorance of what had been done and waiting for night to come, with the idea that the men were still living and might be rescued, he cried to them with a loud voice and said: "They have lived." For thus the Romans who wish to avoid words of ill omen indicate death.
