sentences:  Before that, the phrase was used in the 19th century as a euphemism referring to all the people who have died, and others have used it before and after Nixon to refer to groups of voters in various nations of the world.The phrase had been in use for much of the 19th century to refer to the dead—the number of living people is less than the number who have died throughout human history (in 2011 there were approximately 14 dead for every living person), so the dead are the majority in that sense.Phrases such as "gone to a better world", "gone before", and "joined the silent majority" served as euphemisms for "died".