A Paucity of Vocabulary...

Have you ever heard anyone complain that the English language, particularly in modern usage, is incredibly limited by the paucity of its vocabulary? But if this is the case, why do we have so many words/phrases for things we really don't want to spend that much time or brain space on (or shouldn't as in the case of alcohol, prostitution, and so on)?

For example, rarely do we say someone died. They kicked the bucket, passed away, passed on, shuffled off this mortal coil, are pushing up daisies, took a short walk down a long pier, or didn't make it (which is really misleading...because they did indeed make it somewhere).