When did “die” become “pass”?

Question

It seems Americans are using “pass” a lot these days to mean “die”. Was “pass away” not euphemistic enough? I’d never noticed the term “pass” being used, except maybe poetically, until recently. Has it actually become more common?

Answer 1

Two linguistic phenomena are present here

Euphemism...Pass sounds less jarring

Ellipsis. Just as some say "morning" where they might say "Good Morning" so some say "pass" instead of

"pass away" or "pass on"