Monday, August 24, 2009

It’s all Greek to Me!

During my most recent “outing” with CU, I got to thinking (and yes it hurt) about how my two main passions in life can sometimes cross over into each other. While one teaches you how to be ill and injured, the other hopefully makes you better! Even my third passion in life can be interlinked here; normally because every council meeting makes my heartbeat race that little bit more!

Being in CU means that we get to help people like St. John, the Red Cross and Paramedics to train their members. I have on more than one occasion been handled (or mishandled in some cases!) by St. John members, I’ve also done my fair share of handling CU members myself; hopefully all successfully! Although the less said about the manhandling the better in my view, could get a girl in trouble if you ask me!

Anyways, as I’m sat here thinking about how I was treated during the course of the day; a few things sprang to mind about the whole experience. Normally when you are in an exam you have a certain way to act, both as casualty and indeed person doing the treating. There is a right and wrong way to do the treating so that you will pass, but in this case they had to talk to the examiner a lot.

This give me a great chance to sit back and take it all in, I was able to listen in and allow the paramedics to go through what I would assume would be their “check list.” But as the lovely young paramedic used words I won’t even try to repeat... (“Take the thingamajig and check her wotsits, and don’t forget her ugimaflip...”) I realised it all sounded pretty scary. Now to most normal people it would be scary anyways, but we all know I am not normal... I’ve been in St. John for far too long now!

I can clearly remember looking around the room in between being treated and seeing a scoop, spinal longbaord, FernoTrac and a TED... all of which make me feel like I have a nasty case of the “lergie!” When we do training at St. John we something get to use TED’s, KED’S, RED’s and Neil Robertson’s... I am sure somewhere in the back we also have FRED’s, NED’s and LED’s; I just hope that none of us need that little used (or indeed end up) DED in the cupboard which housed Napoleon! (Or Boney as I liked to call him!)

We can get COPD, MCADD & AAA; all of which can leave you feeling SAD, MAD and very BAD!! It all brings a whole new meaning to the saying; “I dunno what your problem is, but I bet it’s hard to pronounce!” And all of which fills me with fear if I am honest with you, but then I am not the only one who gets a case of “worditis!” A fear of saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing, not knowing what someone is saying; or the worst by far... looking and feeling stupid and dumb!

It all led me to think about just how and why this all happened, some people call it “dumbing down;” while others call it speaking plain English... and then we have the trend that seems to be happening of late, making things sound more important than they actually are! And just what is a “Machine Minder” anyways? Since when did machines need minding?

And just what in the blue heck does an “Intranet & E-Services Officer” in the Police do? Will they be arresting PC’s and Laptops if they are seen to be breaking the law? Are we now all going to be safe from gangs of laptops roaming the streets late at night, from harassing law abiding citizens? Is it just me or does everyone seem to want to be called something else in their job titles? What happened to the good ol’ bin men? That’s right; they got turned into refuse operatives!

And of course it isn’t just medical stuff and job titles that big words are resigned too! Everywhere seems to do it now, even some of us “common folks” do it... our politicians are, without doubt some of the worst offenders though! With more than their fair share of long complicated words and “jargon” used to confuse, confound, baffle and bamboozle us voters!

Having sat in the last three Overview and Scrutiny meetings at our local council, trying to understand it all; I can conclude that I understood Jack Shitt... even when I was asked if I enjoyed the meeting, I had to lie and say yes! Of course I did enjoy them, but I never understood a thing! And that’s my point; I could not say that, I could not bring myself to say... “I didn’t understand a thing!” As far as I can tell, we are going to be getting housing just not how people want it... I think!

This politics thingy all seemed so much easier when I was sixteen I must admit; the thought of getting into that world at thirty two (when I am older and I have forgotten more than I ever actually knew!) seems actually quite scary! I am thankful to those people I can count of for help and advice, there are members of every party who are willing to help me understand when I need it; which I can assure is needed.

But it still does not detract from the fact big long words can scare people, especially if they are unwell or afraid. In my last “exercise” of the day, I was treated by a couple of paramedics who looked me well and dealt with my injuries also well... at least that’s what I think happened to me! For all I know they could have been talking about last night’s telly or what they had for tea! Of course they were talking about how best to deal with my trauma, I’m sure; thought what a dis BLS (or whatever the heck they said) means, is anyone’s guess!

Now don’t get me wrong, I think the English language is wonderful; where else can you find a million and one different ways to say I Love You, I Hate You or I Miss You? And who doesn’t love a politician who can blast the opposition out of the water with their clever words? It’s surprisingly good fun when you watch local councillors, play with their words to defend or attack their colleagues or opponents! (They shall remain nameless to protect their identities, but Robin Hood knows who he is; as does the big cuddly teddy bear at the back... but that one is just a rumour!)

Over the past few weeks before the summer break our LCR (see, even I do it!!! The Learning Rescore Centre ~ Library for short!!) at my college has been doing a “Word of the Day” where each day they have a different word, and its meaning; though some of them flummox me!

When all is said and done though, the English language can be both fun and scary at the same time. But as long as we don’t get our KED’s and TED’s mixed up with our COPD’s and MCADD’s, or flummoxed by our FESS’s (with thanks to a job advertised by the Red Cross in last Thursday’s Chron & Echo) then we should all be A OKAY!!!

When you think about it, it’s all Greek to me!

Now where did I put my walking dictionary?

No comments: