An Homage To Nursing
DrHGuy Meets The Director Of Nursing
The Director of Nursing at the Medical Center where DrHGuy served his residency once remarked to him that during her own training at that same institution, her nursing class was taught to stand respectfully when a doctor entered the nursing station and to serve properly chilled orange juice to physicians.
The Director of Nursing did not, it should be noted, relate this anecdote in the spirit of those were the good old days and, in fact, appeared to regard those experiences with more than a modicum of distaste. During the pause that followed her comments, DrHGuy, who, as a result of attending a minimum of three fundamentalist church services a week throughout childhood and adolescence, was familiar with the purpose of parables, asked the Director of Nursing if she would care for an Orange Crush (no juice then being available).
Fortune (and, more to the point, The Director of Nursing) smiled upon DrHGuy through the remainder of his training and his first years on the attending staff of that hospital.
An homage. I am pretty sure.
Aside, you won a chick over with an orange crush? Jeesh! I woulda held out for something in a single malt. But then with me it is all about the hair not the hats.
Comment by Mary — September 10, 2007 @ 9:49 pm
Mary is, of course, correct that “an” is the article that should be used in this instance, and I’ve made that change.
I’m certain she is also correct that single malt scotch is superior to Orange Crush in winning the hearts, minds, and bodies of women.
In fact, after enough single malt, the hair & hats distinction may become unimportant.
Comment by DrHGuy — September 10, 2007 @ 10:20 pm
“A” or “an” depends on how “homage” is pronounced. In America, the “h” is more often sounded, as it is in “however,” so the “a” is correct. “An” is correct where the word is pronounced as if there were no “h” at all. In other words, you can’t go wrong with this one; you can only reveal where you are likely from.
Comment by MindSpin — September 11, 2007 @ 6:55 pm
In America the “h” is more often sounded as it is in “ho”.
Comment by ben — September 11, 2007 @ 11:00 pm
According to preferred American English as scrawled on school bathroom stalls, that would be “h” as in “Sophie is a hoe.” Note the correct use of the article and the evocative deployment of the garden tool metaphor.
Comment by MindSpin — September 12, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
ho [hō]
(plural hos or hoes)
n
1. a taboo term for a prostitute (slang taboo)
2. a taboo term for a woman (slang taboo insult)
[Late 20th century. Pronunciation of whore .]
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
hoe [hō]
n (plural hoes)
weeding tool: a garden implement used for weeding or turning over soil. It consists of a long pole with a small flat metal blade set into one end at a right angle to the pole.
vti (past hoed, past participle hoed, present participle hoe·ing, 3rd person present singular hoes)
Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Comment by ben — September 12, 2007 @ 9:39 pm
Correct correction of a incorrect incorrectyion wrong - right?
Comment by ben — September 13, 2007 @ 2:46 pm
::Returning laughing:: I know that anybody hailing from “downstate” is considered by Chicago folk to be (at least) from a different world. S’ok. Weird but true, lots of us don’t pronounce the “h” in human either. I stand by the an.:-)
Comment by Mary — September 16, 2007 @ 9:37 pm