An interesting thing I didn't know until today

[JtS]

It's very comforting when you haven't been on OTF for a while that the old crowd are still here.

[ad hoc]

Coming from where I do, I've obviously heard the slang-term of "Gee-Gees", but have no idea where it comes from.

https://english.stackexchange.com/qu...lang-for-horse

[WOM]

It's very comforting when you haven't been on OTF for a while that the old crowd are still here.

Wow...it's been a while. Your Books thread is still chugging alone.


Never heard gee-gees. Hard g or soft?

[Sporting]

Soft.

[DCI Harry Batt]

https://english.stackexchange.com/qu...lang-for-horse

Any of those strike you as particularly likely?

[Nocturnal Submission]

A cricketer from my formative years, Geoff Arnold, had the nickname "Orsey."

That's GG Arnold from South London.

As you were...

[ad hoc]

Any of those strike you as particularly likely?

Not terribly, but it must have come from somewhere.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Speaking of nags, a potential new factoid for some of you.

Do you know when a horse called Skyscraper won the Derby?

Answer below in white text, as I've forgotten the Spoiler workaround, (or was it fixed in the recent patching).

1789

[ursus arctos]

Balders, in real life, obstetricians work in practices and cover for each other if they can't be there when one goes into labour (there is also the possibility of two patients being more or less simultaneous).. They also generally will not be there for the entire process and rely on the nurses and residents in the maternity unit to keep them apprised of what is happening and when they are needed.

But they do work impossible and very unpredictable hours. It is the nature of the speciality.

[ursus arctos]

And yes, gee-gees is virtually unknown here

[My Name Is Ian]

To the extent to which I've ever thought of it, I'd probably have considered it a contraction of 'giddy up' or something. I'd say usage is probably rougly equally used in betting shops and primary school playgrounds.

[Felicity, I guess so]

We talk about 'geeing someone up'

[Hot Pepsi]

The NHS uses electronic records as well, with varying degrees of efficacy. But they always seem to want the patient to start by recounting their medical history themselves verbally.

I've become very adept at giving a short potted history of my bipolar episodes as a result.

For me, having to tell the story again and again is what is currently blocking me from seeking help I probably need. I just can't cope with doing that again right now.

[Hot Pepsi]

While having dinner last night with family and two 26-year-olds from Philadelphia (but now residing in Colorado) I discovered that they (and most other USA citizens?) had never heard of the slang term "gee gees" for horses.

It's the mascot for the University of Ottawa. That's the first and last time I encountered it.

[Hot Pepsi]

Something else I find odd about the US OB/GYN system. Prospective parents in films seem to spend a lot of time and effort trying to find the right OB/GYN who promises to be there for the birth and then inevitably is on holiday when it actually happens leaving the parents panicking.

But how does anyone expect that to work anyway? You get given a due date, but a standard length pregnancy can be up to three weeks before that date and up to two weeks after it and still be considered full-term / a non-complicated pregnancy length. Then of course many people give birth prematurely, or remain pregnant beyond 42 weeks and end up being induced due to safety concerns. So, the OB/GYN is expected to be available 24 hours a day at zero notice over the course of six weeks or longer for each individual patient? How ridiculous.

Also, there is the sheer length of labour to consider. I was in labour for 22 hours with my daughter before finally needing a caesarean due to concerns for her safety. There is no way that I would have wanted one person to be present with me for the entire 22 hours and then be the person wielding the knife for the surgery. It's surely very obvious that that's not safe? And many labours last a lot longer than that. Three days is not at all unusual. It's bad enough that the woman has to stay awake that entire time. You definitely don't want your medical support team doing the same.

All very odd.

I'm pretty sure that's just in movies. In real life, doctors would fear being sued - and maybe could be - for making promises they cannot keep.

[jwdd27]

To the extent to which I've ever thought of it, I'd probably have considered it a contraction of 'giddy up' or something. I'd say usage is probably rougly equally used in betting shops and primary school playgrounds.

They are gee-gees if they win. They are nags if they lose.

[Satchmo Distel]

I wonder if GG Arnold and PP Arnold ever dated. First Off-cutter Is The Deepest.

[multipleman78]

I never noticed until today that the character of Sundown in Top Gun is also Theo, the computer expert who is part of Hans's group in Die Hard.

Sundown replaces Goose for one mission in Top Gun and Theo is the only villain who doesn't face the wrath of John McLane at any point in Die Hard.

Sundown is more of a minor character than Theo but both are memorable yet I never joined the two. Clarence Gilyard Jr is the actor's name.

[Sam]

https://english.stackexchange.com/qu...lang-for-horse

Love this from the OP of that thread:

according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_Gee-Gees , 'The term "Gee-Gee" is taken from horse racing where a Gee-Gee is the first horse out of the starting gate.'

I mean, that ... doesn't answer the question at all.

[Sam]

Anyway, talk of horses reminds me of a tale my grandad used to tell us about how one of his uncles back in the 1920s bought a horse from an acquaintance after it had bolted. He'd been trying to buy it for months and the guy wasn't selling, and he was having another go over a pint in the pub one weekend when there was a loud noise outside and the horse got scared and legged it. So my great-great-uncle turned to his mate and said 'I'll give you half a crown* for it right this second' and, reasoning that there was as good a chance as any that they'd never find it or that if they did find it it would have run itself into a ditch and seriously hurt itself, the owner said OK then and sold it to him. They found it a few minutes later about half a mile down the road standing by a hedge.

*amount invented because I can't remember how much it really was.

[Snake Plissken]

I didn't know pineapples eat people whilst people are eating them

Eh? Wha?

*Googles*

Oh.

[3 Colours Red]

The same enzyme that stops gelatin from setting, which is why you can't make pineapple jelly with all natural ingredients.

[Lang Spoon]

France also has 'family' gynaecologists (uniquely in Europe I think?) that you're supposed to first see as a teen and then go for yearly check-ups like at the dentist's. I never went and never understood why it was a thing when men and boys are not expected to go to a shlong inspector once a year. Filed it as one those French medical quirks/population-level delusions, like homeopathy being a legitimate branch of medicine, vaccines being full of aluminium that give you Parkinson's or 'heavy legs' being a recognised medical condition

"heavy legs" seems up there with the (north?) Italian belief that wearing socks in bed will see you in your grave. And of course the fear of drafts/wet hair outside.

[scratchmonkey]

The Koreans have the particular belief that sleeping in a room with a fan on causes death.

I don't think we saw our OB-GYN for either of the births of our children, in our area, it's all down to who's currently on the floor in L&D when you come in. It helps that we had our doula, a longtime family friend who delivered my wife and essentially came out of retirement to help with both of ours.

[Hot Pepsi]

The Koreans have the particular belief that sleeping in a room with a fan on causes death.

I don't think we saw our OB-GYN for either of the births of our children, in our area, it's all down to who's currently on the floor in L&D when you come in. It helps that we had our doula, a longtime family friend who delivered my wife and essentially came out of retirement to help with both of ours.

Are you saying you pulled her back in for one last job? That usually doesn’t end well.