What they say/what it really means

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

For many years, I have sat on various selection and admission committees for residency training (i.e. sort of a postgraduate, but hands-on, position for those seeking to become specialists in Internal Medicine). As a result, I have read literally thousands of reference letters. What makes it better is that in addition to their reference letters, I also have access to the candidates’ transcripts, Dean’s letter, CV’s, etc., and in many cases know the candidate (or got to know him/her sometime later) and was able to compare reality with, hmmm, with fantasy! So, . . .

“John is an efficient worker” really means “He cuts corners”.

“Patients respected him” means "they were terrified of his examinations (and his ‘large’ fingers :eek:)

“John’s clinical knowledge is better than most of his peers” means “he was the only one who passed the exam. With a 61 percent”.

“Jane is the best student I’ve worked with this year” means “Jane was the only student I worked with this year”.

“She is the type of doctor I would want for my loved ones” means “I love my dog and would let her look after it”.

“Jane is punctual” means “I can’t think of anything else positive to say about her”.

“It’s been gratifying to watch John mature as a physician” means “He used to know nothing, and now he knows next to nothing”.

“John is a unique individual” means “he’s a psychopath”.

“Jane is one of the most imaginative and creative student doctors I’ve ever seen” means “I couldn’t believe the excuses she came up with”.

“You can count on John” means “You can count on spending hour after hour reviewing his work to make sure he doesn’t kill anybody”.

“If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to call” means “Give me a call NOW - this guy’s nuts!”

“I am pleased to provide a copy of this letter to Jane” means “Don’t believe a word of what you’re reading. I just didn’t want her to feel bad”.

"“I am pleased to provide a copy of this letter to Jane” means “Don’t believe a word of it. I just didn’t want her to sue me”.

:slight_smile:

62

In philosphy journals, the term “ingenious” is often used as a backhanded pejorative for arguments made by others which the author wants to insinuate are clever and cute, but ultimate fails.

63

This is hilarious to me. My little brother recently got PRK Lasik surgery, and while many people in our town are trained in PRK, my mom took him elsewhere because “They were all my interns at one point, and they’re all retarded”. :stuck_out_tongue:

64

Maybe :smiley:

I could go with “We’ll see.”

65

Scenario 1:

Me: “Hey babe, you okay?”

Mrs. Foma: “Yeah”

(Translation: "I’m genuinely fine. I am either distracted by a book or Nathan Fillion is on TV)

Scenario 2:

Me: “Hey babe, you okay?”

Mrs. Foma: “Sure”

(Translation: “You’ve fucked up and there’s gonna be a fight”)
Scenario 3:

Me: “Hey babe, you okay?”

Mrs. Foma: …

(Translation: “You’ve fucked up in big way. WARNING: Talking to me will lead to violence.”)

66

“Are you sure it’s ok if I go? Dave’s waiting and…”
“It’s ok, go. Just go.”
Translation: You better not set foot outside that fucking door.

67

Ah yes, and in a similar vein “just do whatever you want to do” which roughly translates as “the fact that your desires diverge from mine will ultimately cause you pain in the future”.

68

Well I’m visiting Thailand at the moment and have heard the following assertion frequently from other travellers.

You don’t even need to know Thai! Everyone here speaks English.

It means:

Are you kidding? I’m not going to learn Thai – I’m a Westerner! Everyone I interact with smiles and laughs (because it’s a cultural norm to do that when someone can’t communicate with them) so that’s good enough for me.

69

When she says “no” she really means “yes.”

70

Only when you’re using the rapist to non-rapist dictionary.

71

Yeah, you gotta watch that one. Back in the day some women would play with you that way. Now I’d assume that “no” means exactly that.

72

That brings to mind a scenario Picard experienced through Q’s intervention. He changed a crucial decision in his life story in which he confronted the Nausicans (sp?) and was injured as a result. This was during in his academy years.

Then he flashed forward to “the present” and found himself a medium-level fellow in the science department, instead of captain. He pressed Riker and Troi for an off-schedule evaluation. They couldn’t see him as building up to a command position, because he always played it safe. (Horrors!)

Earlier, when they were asked to describe his positive qualities, Riker included punctuality. This was certainly positive, and sincerely meant, but the scene screamed out that neither of them could think of any things to praise him for that weren’t decidedly routine.

- Og