Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Four Hours of My Life That I'll Never Get Back...
In A Matter of Chance, we get to see several flu victims (including Cressida). Cressy's parents have died of it, and then the entire household in Holland (or is it Friesland??) comes down with it.
Dr. van der Stevejinck usually gets a flu vaccine every year...they offer them at work. I think I've only ever gotten a flu shot once. I'm much more likely to just take my chances. On Monday, I was wishing that this had been the year I'd gotten one. I spent hours in the waiting room at the doctor's trying to avoid catching what every other person in the place seemed to have. I don't know if it's the flu going around, but about half the people there were hacking up a lung and the rest just looked pathetic. So far, I haven't been showing symptoms, but every little ache or sniffle makes me wonder...am I getting it?
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I only get a flu shot because a) I'm bringing the kids in anyways and b) my husband has this uncanny ability to bounce all pestilence and disease off himself and on to me. He's always disgustingly healthy while I am snuffling around. I put it down to the sheer volume of snotty "affection" I get from the kids.
ReplyDeleteBetty Barbara here--
ReplyDeleteI am a firm believer in the flu shot. We elderlies must watch our health! I also have some lung issues, so flu shot-check, pneumonia vaccine-check. They have worked for me. (My winter problems have never really been flu, but bronchitis! But I haven't had any of that since I've been getting the flu shot. Go figure.)
Betty Keira: I am intrigued and quite curious to know if the term "Betty" as used in modern slang has its roots in Betty Neels. Any idea?
ReplyDeleteBetty Aber -- One suggestion is that is means a beautiful woman. That's how it was used in the movie Clueless. Here's an explanation (from an Australian Jane Austen website that explains all the slang in that movie!):
ReplyDeleteBetty = a gorgeous woman-- perhaps timeless. This derives from the 1930s and 40s film star Betty Grable. She was the original 'pin-up' girl. Thousands of soldiers in World War II had pictures of her to 'pin-up' in their Barracks. She had particularly beautiful legs. Part of her fame was associated with the fact that she had her legs insured for $1million - a lot more money in the 1940s than it is today.
I think the first time I heard the word 'Betty' used to describe a pretty woman (as in: Isn't my mom a Betty?') was in the movie Clueless and I think that the phrase came from Betty Rubble of Flintstones fame because she was so much cuter than her husband should have gotten...Other sources think it dates from semi-notorious pin-up Bettie Page.
ReplyDeleteMy condition is an auto-immune disease. Accordingly, I am extremely susceptible to infection. For the first several years after I was diagnosed, the thinking by my docs was that the risk of infection from creating a "portal of entry" for bacteria by pricking my skin with a needle was far greater than for me to get the flu or pneumonia.
ReplyDeleteAbout 3 years ago, though, Dr W decided that as I approached 50, the shots were the safer bet. So I have gotten them for the past three years. Last year, hubby got Swine flu and was quite ill for 2 weeks. He even got spots on his lungs that led the docs to do extensive tests for cancer afterward. His 6 month checkup after all that showed all spots gone from his lungs and everyone's happy. :)
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Ah Betties. Thank you. I did, in point of fact understand the implied meaning of the slang. I was just unclear on the origins. I'm going to have to go with the Betty Grable theory. As I told Betty Keira earlier today, Betty Rubble is just not that hot.
ReplyDeleteActually, I have to agree, in CLUELESS I think they were referring to Betty Rubble in THE FLINTSTONES. Remember what we were dealing with in that movie, there would have been no way that they would have known who Betty Page or Betty Grable were.
ReplyDeleteGot a flu shot, no reaction to that, but I'm on anti-biotics now and majorly having queasiness, etc. Won't go into it....