Saw this one on the 21st century sitcom " The Middle"
The best restaurants in the UK are Indian restaurants.
Despite the jokes, I enjoyed British food during my 3-month visit to England with my mother and sis in 1965 (except for the “hot-dog” I got at a seaside resort. It was a spicy sausage in a bun—blasphemy!). It helped that my aunts, like my mother, were fine cooks. My maternal grandparents were cooks at the London Stock Exchange. Grandfather (the head chef) died during WWI after contracting a deadly disease from skinning rabbits in the British army.
I especially liked the custom my uncles had of waking us up with a cup of tea and biscuit (cookie). And one aunt made something she called buried treasure, sort of a warm macaroni pudding with a cream-filled chocolate cake buried in the middle. Loved it!
Almost every meal I have had in the UK (three trips probably 25-30 meals) has been good to excellent. And for the most part we are just dropping into the pub, restaurant or cafe that is to hand. Even in the much maligned touristy areas the food is at least decent.
This reminds me of another trope from the '70s and maybe the '80s. Anytime a character was nervous or upset in some way, they would ask for a pill, or else somebody would offer them one – a Valium, or something similar. Apparently, doctors and everybody else handed out prescription pills like candy.
They did.
Pills, and more. In the closing scene of The Godfather, when Connie is hysterical after learning the truth about Michael, he calmly directs his henchman, “Take her upstairs. Get her a doctor”, presumably code for a shot.
A different trope about pills that I’ve not seen in a long time: someone with a chronic heart condition gets upset and is close to getting a heart attack, so they must take their regular medication (they of course always carry in their pocket) right now, and immediately the danger disappears.
Elaine on Seinfeld.
You can stll buy necklaces designed to hold nitroglycerin pills, so I suspect some people still use the pills this way
Don’t you usually have to sniff nitroglycerin in an emergency? I know I had to when I was at my doctor with chest pain, he saw my critical ECG and called the ambulance to get me to a hospital ASAP. Luckily, a heart attack was prevented, but I got a stent at the hospital. Now, seven years later, I have to take an array of pills regularly, but none of them would do anything for me in an emergency.
Nitroglycerin pills are an actual thing. My dad puts one under his tongue when he starts having chest pains.
I will agree I haven’t seen it as a dramatic device in a long time.
Ok, I didn’t know that nitroglycerin for heart emergencies also comes in pills, I thought you’d had to sniff it.
Nitroglycerin pills for a heart condition were a major plot element in “Better Call Saul”, seasons 3 and 4 IIRC.
No. There are a lot of blood vessels beneath the tongue. Typically, one asks the patient to lift their tongue and sprays it on. But it also comes in pills, intravenous and other forms.
Ok, thanks for fighting my ignorance. And now I’m not so sure anymore if I sniffed the nitroglycerin in my emergency or got it sprayed into my mouth, but I remember it was a spray. Given the dramatic circumstances, I think I’m excused for maybe misremembering.
The problem with nitroglycerine pills is that if you bite down on one you can blow your head off.
Yes, that side effect happened to me a couple times. Well, you live and you learn. Or not.
Well, you can’t learn anymore after your head is blown off!
Another one from the 40s: whenever a person (usually a woman) has had a frightening or dangerous experience, the doctor would give them a sedative.
Video from 2000 family member of lost Russian submarine crewman being sedated. being sedated. See the syringe in the woman in the trench coat’s hand.