# Typo in Hospital Wastewater column
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [February 26, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198 "2016-02-26T14:53:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198/1 "2016-02-26T14:53:29Z")
> **[What happens to hospital wastewater?](https://www.straightdope.com/21344362/what-happens-to-hospital-wastewater)**
Dump the affluent into the sewer system? Ah, no. Just no.
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### Author:  [@waddlingeagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waddlingeagle)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198/2 "2016-02-26T15:38:36Z")
> [@Civil\_Guy](#):
>
> [What happens to hospital wastewater? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3277/what-happens-to-hospital-wastewater)
>
> Dump the affluent into the sewer system? Ah, no. Just no.
I always knew those Bernie Sanders supporters were up to no good!:eek:
Seriously, though: hospitals are the least of the problem. Practically every pill you take eventually passes through your body and into the sewage system. The same for caffeine and illegal drugs like cocaine and meth. Waste treatment plants do not remove this; it goes right into the environment.
So now our fish are swimming around in a cocktail of coke, caffeine, meth, and estrogen. But I’m not gonna say it. Nope. Not me.
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### Author:  [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198/3 "2016-02-26T17:39:02Z")
I was just coming here to post about this! Dam[sub]pun[/sub] I’m always late at posting the funny things.
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### Author:  [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198/4 "2016-02-26T18:19:20Z")
> [@waddlingeagle](#):
>
> So now our fish are swimming around in a cocktail of coke, caffeine, meth, and estrogen.
But only the affluent can afford those kinds of schools.
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### Author:  [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198/5 "2016-02-26T18:29:46Z")
’Nother typo:
> [@](#):
>
> Hospitals aren’t dumping it directly down the drain — er, one hopesbut still,
No punctuation, or even space. Also, the usual rule is that if you use real em dashes (instead of typewriter-style double hyphens), you’re not supposed to put spaces around ’em.
Real em dashes—like that.
Fake em dashes – like that.
(I do but report what I am told.)
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2016, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198/6 "2016-02-27T04:57:10Z")
> [@Civil\_Guy](#):
>
> [What happens to hospital wastewater? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3277/what-happens-to-hospital-wastewater)
>
> Dump the affluent into the sewer system? Ah, no. Just no.
Well, I for one am all for it! Dump all those sufferers of affluenza into the sewer system! Perhaps this will lead to an epidemic of affluence!
ETA: As for those em-dashes:
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#):
>
> ’Nother typo:No punctuation, or even space. Also, the usual rule is that if you use real em dashes (instead of typewriter-style double hyphens), you’re not supposed to put spaces around ’em.
I had exactly this, um, “discussion” with a college English Composition teacher once. I understood the rule—no spaces around em-dashes—but argued that it made the text looked cramped, cluttered, and hard to read. Thus, I insisted on putting spaces around em-dashes in my essays — and the teacher seemed to accept that. (This was back in the typewriter era, but the alleged rule held for two-hyphen em-dashes done with a typewriter as well.)
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198/7 "2016-02-27T15:17:25Z")
> [@Civil\_Guy](#):
>
> [What happens to hospital wastewater? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3277/what-happens-to-hospital-wastewater)
>
> Dump the affluent into the sewer system? Ah, no. Just no.
I believe the Occupy Wall Street movement would beg to differ with you.
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#):
>
> ’Nother typo:No punctuation, or even space. Also, the usual rule is that if you use real em dashes (instead of typewriter-style double hyphens), you’re not supposed to put spaces around ’em.
>
> Real em dashes—like that.
>
> Fake em dashes – like that.
>
> (I do but report what I am told.)
Both English-language dailies in Thailand, the _Bangkok Post_ and _The Nation_, do put spaces on either side of the em dash.
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198/8 "2016-03-04T22:41:31Z")
FWIW:
af·flu·ent
ˈaflo͞oənt,əˈflo͞oənt/Submit
adjective
1.
(especially of a group or area) having a great deal of money; wealthy.
“the affluent societies of the western world”
synonyms: wealthy, rich, prosperous, well off, moneyed, well-to-do; More
**2.
archaic
(of water) flowing freely or in great quantity.**
I thought Cecil was being punny.
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198/9 "2016-03-04T22:44:10Z")
Also FWIW: Spaces on either side of the em dash are AP style.
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### Author:  [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)
#### Post date: [March 5, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198/10 "2016-03-05T00:31:21Z")
> [@waddlingeagle](#):
>
> Seriously, though: hospitals are the least of the problem. Practically every pill you take eventually passes through your body and into the sewage system. The same for caffeine and illegal drugs like cocaine and meth. Waste treatment plants do not remove this; it goes right into the environment.
Do any of them get broken down in the body, like alcohol?
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### Author:  [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)
#### Post date: [March 7, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198/11 "2016-03-07T16:47:19Z")
Not a typo, but …
First, Cecil says that we may be heartened to learn that here are fewer viruses and bacteria in hospital waste water due to the many antibiotics also discharged.
But then he says that the discharge is chock full of **antibiotic-resistant** bacteria…
To me, that’s not reassuring at all.
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### Author:  [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2016, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198/12 "2016-03-17T06:22:56Z")
And of course the risk of catching Affluenza from all this…
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### Author:  [@circe801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/circe801)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/typo-in-hospital-wastewater-column/747198/13 "2016-03-20T20:48:56Z")
> [@waddlingeagle](#):
>
> I always knew those Bernie Sanders supporters were up to no good!:eek:
>
> Seriously, though: hospitals are the least of the problem. Practically every pill you take eventually passes through your body and into the sewage system. The same for caffeine and illegal drugs like cocaine and meth. Waste treatment plants do not remove this; it goes right into the environment.
>
> So now our fish are swimming around in a cocktail of coke, caffeine, meth, and estrogen. But I’m not gonna say it. Nope. Not me.
actually, they are swimming around in the metabolites of said substances–which can be just as bad…