Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Girl time

How perfect does your proctologist need to be? Now that's a question you don't hear every day, I'd guess. My gastroenterologist is wonderfully competent, pleasant, accommodating, prompt, etc. But yesterday when I went for a colonoscopy after the usual purgative (are "purgatory" and "purgative" related?), he asked me, "Are you a clean girl?" It has been more than 40 years since I could accurately be called a girl, but I figured it was just an awkward moment, and he was probably as embarrassed as I was by his comment. And he is, as noted, wonderfully competent, pleasant, accommodating, prompt, etc. But then he said, in answer to a question, "Just call the office, and one of the girls will help you." There are, obviously, no children working in his office. But then he is wonderfully competent, pleasant, accommodating, prompt, etc. But what kind of person calls grown women girls?

2 comments:

Susan said...

Hi girly girl. I love being called a girl.
Beware.. that's what I'm going to call you from now on! xoxo

gio said...

are "purgatory" and "purgative" related? yes, brendan says that they derive from "purification", which in turn derives from "pyr", which means fire as in "pyre."