Althouse: Thursday afternoon.

June 16, 2005

Thursday afternoon.

I've just finished the first week of my five-week summer class. I like the summer format with 4 days in a row of 2-hour classes. Very intense! No room for the illusion that we've got plenty of time to get to everything. You get a nice feeling of total immersion ... with a bit of a rest over the long weekend. And then it will be time to dive back in.

The long weekend is a good time for blogging. I went out after class for some lunch-and-blogging, but the WiFi at my usual lunch café was malfunctioning, so I left pretty soon and went home only to find the WiFi wasn't working there. The cable provider must be having some troubles today, so I went back out, to Borders, to pick up the T-Mobile Hotspot. I have a free subscription that came with something or other, and it's about to expire, but at least I've got it today when the cable is malfunctioning. So here I am blogging in the café at Borders.

A man walks into the café and says "Is there a doctor in the house?" Everyone looks over. We see he's just a guy who's got a funny way to say hi to a friend of his he's spotted in the café -- presumably, the friend is a doctor. We're all amused I think. I've never heard anyone seriously say "Is there a doctor in the house?" -- and I still haven't.

Here's an idle question: If you're ailing only slightly and it's a miserable, rainy day, are you still under the weather?

But I'm feeling fine, and the weather here in Madison is lovely.

12 comments:

Pancho said...: the weather here in Madison is lovely.

Weather's lovely in West Texas too. Pushing 100°, but it's dry heat you know.; 6/16/05, 4:06 PM
Unknown said...: I have a group of friends who, despite my continued protestations, delight in calling me "Dr. last-name-here".

The only problem is, my doctorate is in engineering; and etiquette dictates that we non-medical types are only to be referred to as "Dr." in academic circles. In business circles, the use of "Dr." is verboten, though we may use the "Ph.D." suffix in documents. In social circles, we are to use nothing at all.

I'm totally fine with this, frankly, because I do think medical doctors have a unique social position. In a sense they are on-call whenever they are in public, for just such a time as someone yells, "Is there a doctor in the house?" And wouldn't it be counterproductive if I stood up and said "yes"? :)

What's funny is that one of these friends of mine is an M.D. so he should know better :); 6/16/05, 4:55 PM
Jody said...: The hospital where I work has a code to request a "doctor in the house"; which just means that there was an emergency outside of a patient care area (i.e. someone fell down in the cafeteria) and a doctor is required...so I hear the doctor in the house all the time. :); 6/16/05, 4:59 PM
Ruth Anne Adams said...: I know of a doctor whose surname is "House". She's Dr. House. I've always found that amusing. I've also thought it was funny that there was a speed skater named "Sarah Docter". [now Docter-Williams] I guess I'm easily amused.; 6/16/05, 5:12 PM
Oscar Madison said...: Actually, it happened on my flight four weeks ago from Detroit to Amsterdam. Though since it was a plane, they didn't say "house" but rather "is there a doctor on board?"

It was no joke, but the flight attendants didn't ever explain what the emergency was.

Does that count?; 6/16/05, 5:16 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Oscar: It kind of counts. Kind of not though, because "house" is in the cliché. Hope all is well in Germany. I liked the photos of the cute German cops.; 6/16/05, 5:22 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Mcg: It's even dumber when they call you "Doctor" and you're just a "Juris Doctor."; 6/16/05, 5:23 PM
Mark Daniels said...: Your summer schedule reminds me a bit of the one we had for Summer Greek in seminary.

As you probably know, all who attend a seminary must have their undergraduate degree. Seminaries in mainline denominations, anyway, require their clergy then to complete a four-year Master's Degree program that includes a year of internship.

At the seminary I attended, those who had not yet taken New Testament Greek, were required to take it in the summer prior to the beginning of their first academic year. It involved six weeks of classes which ran from 8 in the morning through about 2 in the afternoon, with a break for lunch, if memory serves. With a schedule that intense and a language so different, one either sank or swam. I swam...but barely.

I always liked taking summer classes. I began my undergraduate career at Ohio State less than three weeks after my high school graduation, taking a full load that summer quarter. I took another summer quarter of classes there two years later. The smaller number of students and the usually smaller load carried by the professors allowed for more interaction with them and a more gratifying learning experience.

Those summers are sweet memories for me!; 6/16/05, 9:13 PM
James said...: There was a band teacher in my high school who happened to have a doctorate in music or something. He would not respond to you (in fact, pointedly ignore you) unless you called him "Doctor." Now, keep in mind this was a public high school where music class wasn't even required, and he would do this with kids who had no idea who he was. And not just in the classroom. In the hallways or in study hall, etc.
It's funny, I never had a college professor who was as protective of his or her title as that one music guy.; 6/16/05, 9:43 PM
Barry said...: I've been present at a "Doctor in the house" event, and it was a little bit scary. It happened at church last year. An elderly gentleman in our pew, one seat away from my wife, fainted. A person behind us help lie him down, while my wife elevated his legs. The guy at the end of the pew in front of me ran forward and the next thing I hear is someone half-shouting, asking, "Is there a doctor in the house?", followed by the priest asking the same thing over the PA.

Someone asks my wife if she's a nurse or something? "No. I'm a veterinarian," was her reply. Not exactly the kind of doctor they're looking for, but closer than an Engineer or Juris Doctor. ;)

A doctor did step forward, though he was a dermatologist or something similar, and protested slightly that he wasn't an "internist". Well, that was good enough at the moment.

The gentleman ended up being OK and was sitting up as the paramedics wheeled him out. Saw him again in church a couple of weeks later.

I guess they could have avoided the cliche' and asked, "Is there a doctor in the church?", but they do say that it's the "house of God", afterall.; 6/16/05, 10:54 PM
Kev said...: I've also been at a "doctor in the house" event. I'm a musician, and I was playing for a Valentine's Day show at my church a few years ago. The stars of the production were a quartet of singer/dancers, and one of the female leads broke her nose onstage in a dancing accident (no kidding--I think her partner just spun her incorrectly, causing her nose to collide with his elbow). Even though the tunes were all supposed to meld into one another, they actually stopped the music, brought up the house lights, and asked if there was a doctor in the house (there was).

I felt really bad for that performer, because she really wanted the doctor to just whack her nose back into place and let the show go on; not only was all her family in attendance that night, but some talent scouts were there also. The doctor made her go to the emergency room, and the show was shortened since we had to cut her feature numbers.; 6/17/05, 6:07 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Slac: I think someone looking at your resume is likely to notice that and ask a question about it, at which point you have the opportunity to phrase a response in a way that presents you as a highly valuable worker: thrives under stress, motivated by a high-pressure workload.; 6/17/05, 4:16 PM