# You know you're at an Irish medical school when..
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 9, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087 "2005-05-09T17:47:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/1 "2005-05-09T17:47:51Z")
on the first day of an Obstetrics and Gynaecology rotation the Professor in charge arranges to meet all 40 students in the pub. And then pays for all our (very alcoholic, thank you) drinks.
Sometimes I’m VERY glad to be Irish!
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### Author:  [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/2 "2005-05-09T18:09:11Z")
The first thing I thought when I read the thread title was “when I’m in Ireland and surrounded by people learning to be doctors.”
The second thing I thought when I read the thread title was “when the doctors are using alcoholic beverages to anaesthetize their patients.”
Then I read your post, and I immediately thought of the large, fake wooden legs constructed by Patch Adams in the movie _Patch Adams_. Because you’d have to be drunk to fully appreciate something like that.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/3 "2005-05-09T18:31:18Z")
Maybe on the Amputation rotation he’ll arrange to meet you all at the Severn Bridge.
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### Author:  [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2005, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/4 "2005-05-11T13:19:54Z")
> [@lieu](#):
>
> Maybe on the Amputation rotation he’ll arrange to meet you all at the Severn Bridge.
Am I being thick? I don’t get it.
BTW - I can see the Severn Bridge from here (both of them). Just thought you’d like to know.
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### Author:  [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/5 "2005-05-11T14:47:52Z")
When my younger brother was at medical school a few years ago, he was doing an A&E rotation when he saw a chart labelled “D.I.B.”.
Usually this means “Difficulty In Breathing” and requires the patient to be observed every couple of minutes.
Having not seen anyone check on this particular patient for some while, my brother approached the doctor in charge and raised his concern.
He was told not to worry… apparently “D.I.B.” also stands for “Drunk Irish B\*stard” 🙂
He also saw doctors marking up future treatment charts with “tooth”.
He thought it might indicate a dental referral, but actually is a polite way of saying “Tried everything else, try homeopathy”. 😛
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### Author:  [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2005, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/6 "2005-05-11T14:55:58Z")
I know what you mean, **irishgirl**. I was temping for a multinational corporation down on Baggot Street one winter, and almost every Friday a crowd of us would head off to the pubs… led by the managers!
At my current corporate job here in the States, at our Christmas party we’re allowed two complimentary drinks each, and then we’re on our own.
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### Author:  [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2005, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/7 "2005-05-11T15:01:00Z")
My property law professor always held his beachfront property law seminar at his home. He would pass around a sign up sheet to get an idea of how much wine to have on hand, and encouraged us to us an alias. Needless to say, the entire crew of the **Enterprise** was there. He also posted rules, such as “if your football lands on the roof - there is no ladder on the premises.”
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### Author:  [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/8 "2005-05-11T15:27:20Z")
Damn! I want to go to school in Ireland!
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### Author:  [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/9 "2005-05-11T17:40:37Z")
Apparently after I left she also took the few remaining stalwarts for dinner at an Indian restaurant.
Most of the other consultants and profs will buy the two or three students attached to them coffee or lunch, but this lady went the extra mile!
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/10 "2005-05-11T19:48:49Z")
My professor’s BBQs were infamous. Between his wine cellar, his whisky collection, and wild boar sasuages, we managed to leave his house after sunrise on more than one occassion…
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### Author:  [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/11 "2005-05-11T20:22:13Z")
😃 Do they also teach you 101 medical uses for whiskey? 😛
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### Author:  [@rpinrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rpinrd)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/12 "2005-05-11T20:32:11Z")
> [@e-logic](#):
>
> He also saw doctors marking up future treatment charts with “tooth”.
>
> He thought it might indicate a dental referral, but actually is a polite way of saying “Tried everything else, try homeopathy”. 😛
Might that have been “TEETH?” Or perhaps, “Tried Obvious Options, Try Homeopathy”?
Or even “Tough Old Octopus Took Henry”? Or “Trevor Opted Out, Tickle Harriet”? Really, I could go on forever.
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### Author:  [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/13 "2005-05-11T22:44:35Z")
A cousin of mine is married to a bloke (from Cork) who is a heart surgeon at the Mater. He used to be able to show you his office on the back of a £5 note. Apparently he went through a bad spell where he operated on several people from his wife’s home town (Edenderry, Co. Offaly) and every man jack of them died on the table.
I am not sure where he did his medical training, but he certainly can put the pints away when required to.
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### Author:  [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/14 "2005-05-12T01:39:51Z")
Well; I was not a med student, nor from Ireland, but the first week I was at University (engineering college actually) the head of my department bought me my first drink (and several more) at an actual pub (bar here in the US). The legal drinking age was 21, I was 17, and everytime the waitress came to our table he picked up my mug and hid it under his coat. 😛
After I got my PhD he hired me as a faculty member. I still keep his favorite lager in my office fridge 33 years later on the off chance he’s in the mood for a cold one on the way home. 😉
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2005, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/15 "2005-05-12T08:14:23Z")
> [@seosamh](#):
>
> A cousin of mine is married to a bloke (from Cork) who is a heart surgeon at the Mater. He used to be able to show you his office on the back of a £5 note.
Is “on the back of a £5 note” an idiomatic phrase?
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### Author:  [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2005, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-know-youre-at-an-irish-medical-school-when/303087/16 "2005-05-12T08:53:45Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#):
>
> Is “on the back of a £5 note” an idiomatic phrase?
Nope - the front of the old [fiver](http://www.banknotes.com/IE75.JPG) showed the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Eccles Street in Dublin. For a while, the window of his office was one of those shown. Or so he used to say, anyway.