Which is the more elegant, less awkward phrasing:

March 11, 2018 12:07 PM

"ABC dedicates her performance to the late XYZ." or "ABC dedicates her performance to the memory of XYZ."
posted by BostonTerrier to Writing & Language (6 answers total)

I think "memory" is more conventional when XYZ is an indirect object of the sentence.
posted by rhizome at 12:26 PM on March 11, 2018

I like “dedicates her performance in memory of”
posted by flyingfork at 12:49 PM on March 11, 2018 [3 favorites]

Much prefer the second.
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 12:55 PM on March 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Then that's that. Thanks!
posted by BostonTerrier at 12:57 PM on March 11, 2018

Prefer memory of
posted by Jacen at 7:20 PM on March 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

XYZ is dead and no longer gives a shit, so dedicating a performance to XYZ is pointless.

Dedicating it to the memory of XYZ, on the other hand, actually amounts to dedicating it to all those people who have memories of XYZ, for the purpose of honouring and strengthening those memories. Much better idea.

I dedicate this comment to the memory of my late mother, who was well known for caring about what words actually mean.
posted by flabdablet at 5:39 AM on March 12, 2018 [5 favorites]