In the 1980's Mojo Nixon claimed "Elvis is Everywhere." While anyone who visits Vegas might concur, I have to disagree.
Here, at Grumpy Neurology, Yoda is everywhere.
Sure, he may be in many disguises, but even a Jedi Master can't hide that characteristic language pattern from a trained DoC* like me.
The following are quotes I've encountered:
From patients:
"Twenty-one headaches I had in May. Many migraines that is."
"Make the seizures stop, can you?"
"I tried to talk, but speech-wise, I could not."
"Much pain my back does have."
"Forgot you also this, Topamax, work it did not."
In an MRI report:
"Nothing abnormal does the MRI show."
From a nurse:
"Ativan received at 8:00, she did."
From a drug rep:
"Reduction in pain they will have, yes."
From my secretary:
"3:15 tomorrow his appointment is."
And (my favorite) was this patient interaction:
Dr. Grumpy: "You really need to stop overusing Excedrin."
Lady Rebound: "It's hard, but I'll try."
Mr. Rebound: "No! Do... or do not. There is no try."
*Disciple of Charcot
My kids hear the "do or do not; there is no try!" frequently... usually regarding either a) the state of their bedrooms; or b) the state of their homework.
ReplyDelete"And the Force may it be with you!"
ReplyDeleteMY kids heard "DO. There is no try. Neither is there an option."
ReplyDeleteGlorious your world must be!
ReplyDeleteFWT?
ReplyDeleteThe Force is strong with this one. DoC he must be.
ReplyDeleteOr someone has been taking Star Wars to heart.
Seriously, I started scrambling my word order with a stroke, so are the pts having some sort of trouble? Staff is either tired or having fun.
Mysterious, this is
Let me cross check these references against the Dead Milkmen's discography and get back to you, okay?
ReplyDeleteI'm a linguist. Sentences with the word order inverted, to bring something other than the subject to the beginning, are especially common around the New York area and are sometimes attributed to Yiddish influence (which can extend far beyond speakers of Yiddish). A textbook example (translating literally from Yiddish) is "The book away I will send" as an alternative to "I will send away the book."
ReplyDeleteThen you have fun with the lysdexics... pt those of us who raise in the fun of Spoonerisms. I think I drove a teacher batty with an almost perd worfict recitation of Rindercellar and the Pransome Hince.
ReplyDeleteAnd the soral of the money is: if you ever go to a bancy fall, and lall on fove with a pransome hince, don't forget to slop your dripper.
Hubby knows a bad migraine is coming when I start unintentionally speaking spoonerisms.
Another reader who does spoonerisms as a migraine precursor...post menopause migraines are happily very rare..but the trouble getting the right word and reversing sequences of numbers sneaks in when very tired or stressed.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest had a language delay and often talked like this! My mom said talking with her was like talking to someone learning English. Thankfully, she has pretty much grown out of it. Though sometimes I find I get things mixed up!
ReplyDelete