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#29575 05/30/01 01:09 PM
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You're right, of course, mav - I'm in a down mood today, my first back at work after a five day break. I could also have mentioned the sound of wind whistling through the rigging of our wondrous new Millenium Bridge, of cormorants drying their wings under Carlisle Bridge, the screaming of prisoners in the torture wing of Lancaster Castle - - -

Ooos - there I go again.


#29576 06/11/01 10:13 AM
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Thanks bridget96, auscultate with its chest tapping meaning was in this weekend's UK Times Jumbo crossword. I would not have known it but for this post!

Rod

PS The Times letters page has been discussing mondegreens, and the word was aired.


#29577 06/11/01 10:21 PM
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Auscultate shouldn't have a chest-tapping meaning, only a chest-listening one.

Which is nothing like a chestnut.


#29578 06/12/01 08:16 AM
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Auscultate shouldn't have a chest-tapping meaning, only a chest-listening one.

Why, doc? All the meanings of auscultate I can find involve "causing to sound" rather than listening.
Rod



#29579 06/12/01 11:18 AM
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Doc: Auscultate shouldn't have a chest-tapping meaning, only a chest-listening one.

Rod: Why, doc? All the meanings of auscultate I can find involve "causing to sound" rather than listening.

Because ascoltare means "to listen" in Italian? And it sounds (!) almost the same as auscultate!


#29580 06/12/01 12:42 PM
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A doctor's innkeeper father tapped his kegs of wine to tell how full the kegs were, by the difference in sound when tapping over air-filled part, compared to sound when tapping over liquid filled part. The doctor realized he could tap patient's chests to detect areas where air in lungs had been displaced by fluid, pneumonia, or tumor growth. This is called percussion and auscultation.


#29581 06/13/01 09:32 AM
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We're taught (and not allowed to suggest otherwise) that the examination of the chest (and abdomen for that matter) has four components, namely:

Inspection
Palpation
Percussion - the tapping part
Auscultation - the listening with (or without) a stethoscope part

I have only ever used auscultation in this context. [lives-a-sheltered-life-e]

Auscultation of the cranium has been suggested, but neither dullness nor hyper-resonance of the head holds up well in court.


#29582 06/13/01 10:34 AM
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neither dullness nor hyper-resonance of the head holds up well in court

Worked OK for Dubbya


#29583 06/13/01 01:05 PM
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Well, not to sheltered a life if Palpation is part of your examination of a chest!

(just joking, i have been lucky, and never encountered a Doc who was less than professional-- the only slip i encountered, was while working in a Hospital, one of the interest i worked with was responsible for giving out flu shots-- to make life easy--he had "pre filled" most of the form (and photocopied it)--and he made everyone "age: 30-- i told him i'd take the flu shot if for no other reason that to restore my youth!)



#29584 06/13/01 03:06 PM
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A few moments ago on National Public Radio I heard our feckless leader, in discussing his hare-brained scheme for a national missile defense system, say, quite clearly, "nucular." (Note: although cleverly disguised as a political polemic, this was about words.)


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