At the drive through: “Is that for here or to go?” (OK, I’ll give her that one, it is probably so ingrained into her that it is habit.)
I stopped to get my hair cut. No one was at the desk so I sat down and began reading a magazine. Two women finally appear and ask me: “Are you here for a hair cut?” (No, I’d like a burger and some fries.)
My mother: “Are you going to tell the Doctor about your cough?” (No, I am paying a man 100 dollars to make me well, but I thought it would be fun to make him guess what my problems are…)
You might be surprised just how often said scenario actually occurs. I’ve had some patients refuse to tell me their symptoms, saying that since I’m the doctor, I should figure it out. I tell them that “Yes, I am a doctor, but I’m not a vet. But I can refer you to one if you wish”.
I didn’t hear it this week, but a counselor for an Agriculture/Farming camp for kids at the University or Minnesota once told me that when he’d show his sheep, adults(both men and women) would approach him and ask of the sheep “What are those little bags hanging between his legs?”
There was a headline in the local newspaper that described a fatal motorcycle accident that involved a good friend of mine, who happens to share the same profession. When I stopped in at our local watering hole a few days later, some dolt asked me in apparent seriousness, “Was that you in that fatal motorcycle accident?”
I just handed in a paper on this for my class on reporting a military beat. It occurs to me that I may have written the thing without once mentioning the word Vietnam.
A true story that continually circulates in my family, about my dear departed grandfather:
He was at home, reading the Sunday paper (as was his habit), slowly (as was his ability, god bless him). He read the headline aloud: “Man in (town) suffers from lethal _____.” He diligently starts reading the article, mumbling quietly to himself, and gets to the end. He then sums it up with:
We’re talking about Joan of Arc and how she helped the French in World Religions, when my friend asks: “She sounds nice and all, but how the hell did she get all those animals on the boat?”
