Hi, James!  Retitling my answer to 2A, and dividing it into two parts:

JB>  I better watch my pdq's. 


          Uh... P's & Q's.  I'm told the phrase was originally used in
warning the customers of British pubs that closing time was imminent, and
it stood for "pints & quarts".  Now, on to the serious stuff!
 In general I understand what people intended when they make errors in the
mechanical details.  What I'm far more concerned about is language which
can be misleading... as in your example of the doctor who may or may not
interpret words like "addictive" the same way you do... and what
I really want to do is to clarify muddy thinking, including my own.  Some
folks apparently feel threatened by that, but I see a difference between
those who virtually attack a percussion instrument because they're not
experienced & those who have no respect either for the instrument or
for their audience.  If you can make such distinctions you needn't feel
threatened.  :-)



JB>  Never was much of a fan of the language.


          Maybe you've been focusing on learning about music, which is
another vehicle for self-expression & communication.  I did much the
same years ago... but circumstances have changed & we find we're more
dependent on language now.



AH>  Sometimes the "cure" is worse than the disease, and
AH>  IMHO only you can decide which of the available
AH>  treatments would suit you best.

JB>  There's a reason they call it a practise. Maybe one
JB>  day they'll get it right.


          Good pun!  I hear what you're saying, and I can't help noticing
that the structure of the atom is now thought to be more complex than it
was when I was in school.  There are new developments in medicine all the
time too.  Some of them might benefit you one day, but you have to live so
long first....  ;-)



JB>  It's just the proliferation of this cluster of
JB>  diseases we call cancer that concerns me.


          Yes, apparently we still have a lot to learn about cancer... (sigh).



JB>  The pots and pans were my first drum set. A wooden
JB>  spoon and a spatula made fair sticks.


          When I was in kindergarten my father fitted a large can with a
piece of string so I could suspend it from my neck.  Many years later my
mother told me I'd strolled around the neighbourhood beating on the can
& singing "Rum tum tum, beat the drum, all around the room we
come"... i.e. a song I'd learned in class... and various other kids
followed me just as the kids in the fairy tale followed the Pied Piper.  I
don't remember the incident at all.  But some time afterwards I became a
schoolteacher & taught music as well as English....  :-)



JB>  Just this evening, I saw a short subject about a team
JB>  of percussionists on ZED TV. The premise was that they
JB>  used anything in a room to make noise. Even a blender,
JB>  and egg mixer, shaving foam being expelled from a can...


          Cute!  Eric Nagler & Rick Scott are children's entertainers
who also know how to appeal to adults... and they're both Canadian.  AFAIK
they started out on other instruments & later added percussion to their
repertoire....  :-)



JB>  I forget exactly now, but if you've ever heard a cuiica,
JB>  [SP?] it was the same type of instrument I made out of
JB>  the coffee basket.


          Cuica... Dallas looked it up on the Internet.  I don't recall
having seen or heard one before.  Very interesting & very creative on
your part.  :-)





--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+