# M\*A\*S\*H **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 27, 1999, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095 "1999-09-27T04:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 1999, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/41 "1999-09-29T19:46:00Z")
Kat, Yeah, the stuff in parentheses in my post was the translation of the Maine term, which preceded. So this is cool…in Oregon, this dish is called simply “spaghetti” ? Or was that the deal just at your house? My mother made this (from scratch) when I was growing up (1960s-70s Cleveland, Ohio) and we called it beefaroni…since you could buy the same conglomeration in the Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee can. I’ve read in various foodie texts that it’s called “Johnny Marzetti” in some parts of the country, but I’ve never encountered that. I’ve never ordered “American Chop Suey” in Maine, so I’m not sure about the cheese situation. If I were making it myself I’d probably lean towards freshly-grated Romano! * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 1999, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/42 "1999-09-30T00:52:00Z")
Luckily, I didn’t spend too long wondering what I’d written that Ike was talking about. 😉 (I started scrolling up to see, and saw Gr8Kat’s last post.) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 1999, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/43 "1999-09-30T02:33:00Z")
**Hungry Boy** : > [@](#): > > If M_A_S\*H is an acronym for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, why is there no \* after the H? Because in the Army they just call it MASH or M.A.S.H. The asterisks were inserted into the title of the book in order to “punch up” the marketing. (I don’t know whether the original publisher of **M_A_S\*H** was also the original publisher of **The Education of H_Y_M_A_N K_A_P_L_A\*N** or not (although it doesn’t really matter too much since I see that Amazon now lists that book as **The Education of Hyman Kaplan**. * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 1999, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/44 "1999-09-30T21:43:00Z")
It’s been a looong time since I read the book, but as I recall Hyman Kaplan spelled his name H_Y_M_A_N K_A_P_L_A\*N because he thought it looked more important that way. So it was the author not the publisher who put the asterisks in. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 1999, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/45 "1999-09-30T21:59:00Z")
Ike, I think it was just us ignorant li’l kids who called it spaghetti. About the only “ethnic” food we were exposed to as children was pizza, so we were socially maladjusted 😉 I have no idea what other Oregonians call it, except maybe “hamburger and macaroni and cheese.” Also, in my family, we put cheddar cheese in just about anything. Cheese is in our blood. [http://members.aol.com/gr8kat1/KatGen/Barber.htm](http://members.aol.com/gr8kat1/KatGen/Barber.htm) * * * “I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 1999, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/46 "1999-10-01T15:54:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Yes, but one would presume that “Crabapple COVE” (emphasis added) would be a coastal community. Not necessarily. There are coves on lakes, and Maine has a _lot_ of lakes. ## I, too, remember “American chop suey” as a Maine term. John W. Kennedy “Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.” – Charles Williams ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/47 "1999-10-20T01:50:00Z")
Did anyone see ER last week? Alan Alda as a doctor… Gee, where’d they get THAT idea? * * * Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to relive it. Georges Santayana ---
**Author:** ![Sancho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sancho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sancho)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/48 "1999-10-20T02:10:00Z")
What’s funny is Alda’s character had homemade treatments for just about every patient that came into the ER. For example, he used a blood pressure cuff as a makeshift tourniquet to stem an arterial wound. At one point, when someone (maybe Carter) was looking at Alda in amazement for his great save, he kind of winked his eye and said, “Old Army trick.” I’m reminded of a time that Hawkeye had to perform a tracheotomy and used a hollowed out ball point pen as the tube. Now I’m just waiting for Trapper or B.J. to show up in the ER as well. Maybe Hot Lips can teach the girls of Ally McBeal what being sexy is all about. * * * In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is King. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/49 "1999-10-20T04:44:00Z")
In '90 I attended the Army Combat Lifesaver course. It’s an intensive weeklong course given by medics to standard troops (grunts, dats, cannon-cockers, duck hunters, bubble-heads, wrenches, truckers, butchers, geeks, sparks, spooks, snoops, etc) so that they can supplement the medic’s manpower in combat, giving necessary aid to wounded to keep them alive until a real medic can show up. On of the techniques they taught was the Emergency Tracheotomy, by taking the guts out of the standard Government Skillcraft pen, making an incision in the trachea and inserting the hollowed-out pen into the incision; tape into place and call the meat-wagon for evac. I don’t know if this was actually ever used to save anyone’s life in DS/DS. _ **\ExTank** _\ _\“Well, it worked fine on the test dummy. Volunteers?”_\ ---
**Author:** ![lvick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d07c76/32.png) [@lvick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lvick)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/50 "1999-10-20T05:03:00Z")
Using a blood pressure cuff as a tourniquet is no news at all IRL, although direct pressure is much prefered. I’ve heard of the emergency makeshift tracheotomy and chest tube, in theory they’re fine, but I haven’t ever worked with one. I am curious though Extank, did they teach you to make the incision horizontally or vertically? Larry ---
**Author:** ![KentT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@KentT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KentT)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/51 "1999-10-20T15:01:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I am curious though Extank, did they teach you to make the incision horizontally or vertically? The incision would have to be vertical, since head movements would stretch a horizontal one a lot more, wouldn’t it? On the other hand, a horizontal incision could be made between the tracheal rings (I may have just invented that name, not sure) and that might heal easier. But that wouldn’t be a major concern in an emergency situation. Ofcourse, I have no medical training whatsoever so I’m just guessing here. ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/52 "1999-10-20T15:10:00Z")
I think much more concerning than the lack of an asterisk after the H in M_A_S\*H is the fact that a MOBILE Army Surgical Hospital stayed in one place for 11 of the 3 years of the Korean War. ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/53 "1999-10-20T15:10:00Z")
I think much more worrying than the lack of an asterisk after the H in M_A_S\*H is the fact that a MOBILE Army Surgical Hospital stayed in one place for 11 of the 3 years of the Korean War. ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/54 "1999-10-20T15:12:00Z")
Sorry. I thought I caught the first post before it went out. ‘Concerning problem?’ I need help. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/55 "1999-10-20T16:12:00Z")
Actually Arken, IIRC the 4077th _did_ move at least once, when a wingnut officer (Colonel?) played by a pre-Potter Harry Morgan made them move across the road. “Never let a radish stand in the way of victory!–Marshal Foch.” St. Hawkeye got rid of the guy by “exposing” his racist tendencies (“Give us a song, boy–it’s in your blood!”) And wasn’t there another episode where they had to “bug out” because of a Chicom push? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/56 "1999-10-20T16:31:00Z")
I recall two episodes where the 4077th was relocated. One was where Frank Burns was temporarily in command and as Hawkeye described “noticed the M in MASH stood for mobile.” The other was a more serious episode where they expected the unit to be overrun and had to evacuate and Hawkeye and Margaret volunteered to stay behind with a patient who couldn’t be moved. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 1999, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/57 "1999-10-21T05:53:00Z")
Hey, what about the FINAL episode? The one that lasted two hours? I think they moved once in the middle of the episode when Hawkeye was seeing the shrink and then at the end, of course, when the war was over. * * * Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to relive it. Georges Santayana ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 1999, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/58 "1999-10-21T05:55:00Z")
I guess it just never LOOKED like they moved… or maybe all of Korea looks the same. Ah, Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![torq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@torq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torq)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/59 "1999-10-20T18:34:00Z")
I haven’t read the original M_A_S\*H book. However, Hooker wrote several sequels (MASH goes to London, MASH goes to Maine, MASH goes to Morocco, etc.) which are set after the war and presume that Trapper moves to Maine along with Hawkeye to establish the Finest Kind Medical Clinic (or something like that). I’m pretty sure that Spearchucker and someone else who didn’t last long on the TV series is there with them, but it’s been a few years since I’ve read the books. Is Burns even in the book? He’s not in the sequels that I’ve read, although “Hot Lips” is… Radar and Blake are also nowhere in sight. Instead there’s an entirely new supporting cast, most notably an opera singer and an incredibly rich oil magnate (sort of like Jed Clampett with a Cajun accent). ---
**Author:** ![typertrphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@typertrphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typertrphy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 1999, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095/60 "1999-10-20T19:56:00Z")
A couple of things. First of all, SANCHO? While you may find it a Hollywood-ism for Alda to use a device for something other than it’s normal application, I can tell you FIRST HAND that it happens. I drive an ambulance as a volunteer, as I write this, I am in uniform. On more than one occassion, I have seen a Paramedic ( never an EMT, since EMT’s cannot administer an IV) “Push” fluids through an IV with great speed, by wrapping the Blood Pressure cuff around the IV bag, and then squeezing the BP Cuff Bulb, therefore crushing the IV bag, and forcing fluids. It happens, if you saw it on “ER”, you can bet with over 95% certainty that it happens in real life. The medical consultation on the show is impeccable. My friend, Dave Chamiedes, shoots every episode. As for the show where Robert Alda, daddy to Alan, was there? It was NOT the “too drunk to save Radar” show. Rather, it was a show where they wound up with each one having an injured arm, in the field, doing true meatball surgery with one guy’s left hand working and stitching along with the other one’s right. Hokey, but hey- when you are acting with Daddy, you make allowances. Typer “If you want to kiss the sky, you’d better learn how to kneel” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-a-s-h/4095.md?page=4)