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#15304 - 01/22/01 03:01 PM Medical malapropisms
Alex Williams Pooh-Bah Registered: 01/05/01 Posts: 1814 Loc: Spam Factory	"Ultraviolated" sounds like something out of an Anthony Burgess novel. I hear "sugar diabetes" or just "sugar" in place of diabetes all of the time. Actually, I heard not fifteen minutes ago. Use of "sugar" usually occurs in describing the past medical history, as in "Well, I've had sugar for 20 years."
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#15305 - 01/22/01 05:15 PM Re: Medical malapropisms
rkay member Registered: 12/13/00 Posts: 144 Loc: London, UK	Kind of off-track but slightly related.... Two of my flatmates used to work as junior doctors in A&E. If they were having a slow day in A&E (unusual, but did happen occasionally!) they had a running game, which involved thinking of the most bizarre 'word of the day' and then seeing who could get it into the most charts during their shift! Maybe they should have tried this board for inspiration....
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#15306 - 01/23/01 11:10 AM Re: Medical malapropisms
wwh Carpal Tunnel Registered: 01/18/01 Posts: 13858	Dear Alex: I am unfamiliar with Anthony Burgess, and so fail to properly enjoy your post. Please give a few clues. Do you acknowledge private wueries?
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#15307 - 01/23/01 03:47 PM Re: Medical malapropisms
Bobyoungbalt veteran Registered: 11/22/00 Posts: 1289	Heavens, I just remembered one I hear all the time: Yellow Jaundice.
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#15308 - 01/23/01 06:07 PM Re: Medical malapropisms
wwh Carpal Tunnel Registered: 01/18/01 Posts: 13858	Dear Bobyoungbalt: Forgive the quibble, but jaundice is not always yellow. I remember seeing cashier in Chinese restaurant with definitely blue-green jaundice,including sclerae, and doigts en baguette de tambour (drumstick fingers). Incidentally, the restaurant across the street in Boston's Chinatown was named Hung Far Low. wwh
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#15309 - 01/24/01 10:46 AM Re: Medical malapropisms
Alex Williams Pooh-Bah Registered: 01/05/01 Posts: 1814 Loc: Spam Factory	Anthony Burgess' novel _A Clockwork Orange_ features a gang of hooligans led by one named Alex, coincidentally, and they like to go around assaulting people, an act which they describe as "giving them a bit of the old ultraviolence." Thus "ultraviolated her" sounds like the character Alex describing a rape. One thing about the novel that AWAD folks might appreciate is the way that the characters' slang is peppered with words borrowed or adapted from Russian. Stanley Kubrick adapted the novel into a film, with Malcolm McDowell starring as Alex. There are lots of websites devoted to the work, for example: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/3111/aco.htm
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#15310 - 01/24/01 12:23 PM Re: Medical malapropisms
wwh Carpal Tunnel Registered: 01/18/01 Posts: 13858	Dear Alex: Thanks for the information about Anthony Burgess. I had so much trouble keeping up with medical journals that I missed a lot of good novels. If I am not persisting in error, since you apparently do not answer private messages, is there any chance you might enjoy swapping medical anecdotes? Bill Hunt
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