W. H. Auden once described life as a very grand opera played by a tenth-rate touring company.

This seems never more true than after a tragedy, when people are asked “How do you feel?” What comes out of our mouths next?

“What a senseless murder.” Well, is there such a thing as a sensible murder?

Or “She didn’t deserve this! She didn’t deserve to die.” Well, does anyone ever? Does anyone deserve to die?

Or someone was “at the wrong place at the wrong time.” Well, no, they were at the right place at the right time. It’s not the victim who is in the wrong. It’s the shooter or the criminal who is in the wrong — doing the wrong thing at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The clumsy prose and clichéd phrases that pour from our mouths in the wake of tragedy or disaster is also evident whe…