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 :""Aged"" refers to an end point or attainment, ""age"" refers to a constantly ageing thing with a future expiry - someone who is dead has no ""age"" they died a certain age and the term ""aged"" specifically means they attained the age stated. Knowledge is not about civility, it is about unbiased truth. ""Passed on"" may sound pleasant, but it carries religious implications and is also not a term that translates its meaning to other languages, where ""died"" is the same thing internationally. Proper use of words is not a matter of low standard, which is a speculative and unsupported view. The comment regarding headstones at Arlington Cemetery is a moot point. They may not say ""aged"" or ""died"", but they don't use any alternative wording either, which means there's no counter suggestion to offer here, and even then it is unlikely that the entirety of Wiki would follow the practice of one U.S. military cemetery, contrary to WP:ENGVAR practice, the headstones in Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial don't even have a birthdate, so it's hardly a universal standard. An infobox does need labels though, it can't just have dates like a headstone, given that many infoboxes contain more than just those 2 dates. WP:IAR does not apply here, nor does common sense, as has been suggested. This is a WP:MOS standard, which is designed to encourage formats that can be understood by everyone regardless of their level of English. If we start employing colloquial phrases, even via local consensus, the standards of articles would slip. Also, such violations of the MOS would prevent the article ever attaining high standards, such as FA. Why anyone would want to do that is nonsensical. ''''''{} "