Ardith Hinton wrote to James Bradley, "Communication & Cancer"

Works for me! 
 JB>  I better watch my pdq's. 

 AH>           Uh... P's & Q's.  I'm told the phrase was originally
 AH> used in warning the customers of British pubs that closing time
 AH> was imminent, and it stood for "pints & quarts".  Now, on to

I've heard it originated with the printing press. Because a lower case 'p' 'd'
and 'q' could easily be confused when working on the negative, (What was it
called, a "block?") the apprentice was told to literally mind
their "p-d-q's."
Likely one was borrowed from the other. 

 AH> the serious stuff!  In general I understand what people
 AH> intended when they make errors in the mechanical details.
 AH> What I'm far more concerned about is language which can be
 AH> misleading... as in your example of the doctor who may or
 AH> may not interpret words like "addictive" the same way you
 AH> do... and what I really want to do is to clarify muddy

I resemble that remark.  I've *really* noticed my dis-joined thought
processes when I'm nursing my pain. Hence, my delayed reply just the other day.
I've recently learnt it is quite akin to schizophrenic thinking, no less. 

I first started on Fido when my written language was even more horribler than
it is now,  and then I went in for my surgery. Until I
realized my pain was affecting more than my sleep and exercise patterns, I
could barely recognize some of the writing I was putting to bytes. Now, I have
to make space for my 'down time' and acknowledge that I am going to type
gibberish until I can return to my senses. 

I suppose I can consider myself lucky, though, as my hallucinations never
include the auditory, and the visual ones I do get are benign peripheral
"sprites" these days. When I was stubbornly refusing the pain the
breadth it
deserved, I was seeing some horrific things. I almost called the fire
department once because I 'saw' my neighbours' house billowing smoke! Well, I
guess that was *the* horrific incident, so I have another thing to be thankful
for. 

 AH> thinking, including my own.  Some folks apparently feel
 AH> threatened by that, but I see a difference between those
 AH> who virtually attack a percussion instrument because
 AH> they're not experienced & those who have no respect either
 AH> for the instrument or for their audience.  If you can make
 AH> such distinctions you needn't feel threatened.  :-)

"I'm not a porcupine. Take off your kid gloves." -B. Raitt [SP?]

Quite frankly, I see little difference between a belligerent musician, and a
bombastic butcher of the language. Knowing that English isn't my strong point,
I'm always the student, and rarely a teacher. I think I have an acceptable
vocabulary, but punctuation and grammar is a voodoo art to me. Most spelling
issues are just plain hard to fathom.

If you feel the need to instruct, I'm all ears!

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

I was so occupied with my work, the gardening and landscaping, music production
and composition... I *refused* to let my tumour removal slow me down. Now that
I'm stuck to the horizontal (The position, not the adjustment. >-) so much, I
too have found the need for the written word.

 JB>  There's a reason they call it a practise. Maybe one

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

There's the rub!  I wasn't the first to insinuate that an MD practised their
craft, and I do say so much with my tongue FIRMLY in my cheek. The scientific
process - I think I understand well enough, and I DO appreciate the body of
knowledge. I just have to temper that with my understanding of its progression.
Wouldn't it be nice if everybody was perfect, and every professional knew
everything in their field? Not likely in this lifetime! 

I heard last night, "Good things come to those who wait, and work *hard* while
they are waiting."  The profession is working as hard as they ever have, but
sometimes it seems they are building on the same foundation, just waiting for
the next hurricane to inevitably hit. What are you gonna do?

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

But look how far we've come! It's far from "Just in time," but at
least they
have plenty of subjects to learn from. /-:

 AH>           When I was in kindergarten my father fitted a large
 AH> can with a piece of string so I could suspend it from my neck.

D-ya ever wonder what a tin drum was made from? 

 AH> Many years later my mother told me I'd strolled around the
 AH> neighbourhood beating on the can & singing "Rum tum tum,

LOL!

 AH> afterwards I became a schoolteacher & taught music as well
 AH> as English....  :-)

Is that what they call "synergy?" 

 JB>  Just this evening, I saw a short subject about a team
 JB>  of percussionists on ZED TV. The premise was that they

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

You saw it then? Some was obviously 'lip-syncing' if I could extend the term.
(Maybe "acting" would be more accurate? |-) The scores were well
thought out
though, and once that is in place, I can overlook many a sin to promote a good
percussion performance. <-;

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

Just to check my facts, it is the drum with a stick attached to the under-side
of the head? The sound is made via *stick-and-slip* physics by rubbing the
stick with a cloth, and different pitches are influenced by pressing or
releasing the head with the other hand. I stumbled across my version quite by
accident when I was finishing up the dish washing one day. Nothing ingenious
about it. [-|=


... Boy: a noise with dirt on it.
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