Borborygmi

 Borborygmi is one of my favourite words
It’s a medical term for the gurgling noise bowels make when they are working normally.
It made a wonderful round in tv’s Call My Bluff when the effete Arthur Marshall and Frank Muir battled it’s true meaning out, but I learned it back in 1983 in my first year of nursing school.
It’s one of those words like follow you , just underneath the surface of memory 
Like mendacity, autonomic dysreflexia, and El- ahrairah ( who was a rabbit God in Watership Down)

I informed my colleague that a patient of ours had no borborygmi
She wasn’t impressed …

I need some company with whom I can talk shite with. It’s a product of being on four nights shifts in a row and needing some frivolity. 
I search messenger for signs of friends on line , but it’s 2 am and all is quiet as it is here. Everyone is safely asleep except me.

One of my patients reminds me of DaVinci ‘s Ginevra De Benci


We studied her in one of my city lit groups…the general consensus suggested that she was unwell, just sixteen and plagued with expectations of total fidelity 
No wonder she looked pissed off.

Tomorrow nights it’s Film Noir again. After that I’ve arranged a what’s app video meet with a friend
With the strict instructions we talk shite over a large gin


44 comments:

  1. Well, I too am awake at 2am. Some of my favourite words - serendipity, cacophony, soporific. Talking of which, I'm now getting sleepy, so off to bed. Don't stay up too late talking shite to yourself. Night, night. xx

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  2. Understanding what we need is half the battle; arranging it or asking for it is the other half. This I am slowly discovering.

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    1. I should add, I'm discovering it only after an unholy amount of stress.

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    2. Knowing yourself is the key isn’t it, knowing what you need when u need it

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  3. Still awake here, listening to summer rain. Favourite words are petrichor and etoile :)

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    1. petrichor The smell of first rain, how lovely and

      Another new word

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  4. It's only me John-I can't sleep again due to anxiety as usual-classic FM is on to relax which eventually kicks in-my doggies are fast asleep-I mainly talk gobbly gook now as I find it easier-Bourboni anyone?-when walking with the dogs I hear my tummy awakening and the machine switch on and occasionally the exhaust works too along a quiet country path-As Ginevra I was not happy with problems with fidelity from who I thought were suitors that I was attracted to-my mum never warned me At all and I'd been to a girls school and most of us were not street wise like my girl cousins-they have luckily matured far more successfully than myself-never mind it was fun and all is well although though I really did think there would be a man on a white horse who would lift me onto his stallion-wouldn't it be luverly-but I am quite happy most of the time singin in the rain and stomping with my cheeky ones who are happy happy-I hope you are Happy too John xx

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  5. Barbara Anne3:09 am

    A couple of my favorite words from surgery were salpingooopherectomy and esophgogastroduodenoscopy. :)
    Only a few hours until you're headed home!!

    Hugs!

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    1. salpingooopherectomy……something to do with Fallopian tubes?

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    2. Barbara Anne1:28 pm

      Yep, tubes and ovaries are removed as that's sometimes needed.

      Hugs!

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    3. I had a bilateral salpingo oopherectomy a few years ago. The nurse asked me before surgery if I knew what I was in for and was most impressed that I knew the technical term 😂.
      Debbie

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  6. shite talk and gin! I think you should add a bag of crisps :)

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    1. No crisps I have to remember the diet!!!

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  7. I had a highly intelligent friend who could finish the Times Crossword in about 10 minutes. One day he passed the paper to me, and said "Finish that for me". AMAZINGLY, I was able to do so, and the word was 'Spraints'; which are Otter Droppings. I felt so proud of myself, you cannot imagine. My friend was also shocked; he had never heard of the word. It pays to know a few strange words.

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    1. I have learned something interesting this morning

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  8. What's the word for words which sound like what they mean? Onomatopoeia? Your word fits that and is great. Love the feel and taste of some words!
    Being flippant and having a giggle are underrated and so necessary.

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  9. The 2am search for similar insomniacs is no fun.
    My favourite word(s) that stick in my head are the Latin names for black lily grass... ophiopogon plaiscapus nigresens, just rolls off the tongue.

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  10. Need instruction on how to pronounce that weird word that I'd never heard before

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  11. What a great post! I have learned a batch of new words today!

    Nothing worse than being exhausted and unable to sleep. That used to happen often when I worked nights. Now I falls asleep wherever I am. I don't even have to lie down!


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    1. I’ve had four hours sleep and am getting up as Dorothy is trying to perform cpr on me

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  12. I know I'm being pedantic but Da Vici is not a surname. It may seem strange, but it is better and more correct to refer to him simply as Leonardo.

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    1. I know I'm being pedantic but Leonardo's home village was Vinci - not Vici.

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    2. Leo’s how’s that

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  13. I must admit that I had never heard of the term "borborygmi" before. Is there another term to describe the sound your belly makes after six pints and a beef madras? Perhaps - "krakatoa".

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  14. How do we know when you are making it up, and when you are not?

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  15. Borborygmi - so I was right in my misreading of the first sentence of your last post.

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  16. A good sense of humour must be really high on the list of desirable personality traits for hospice nursing...just to keep you going.

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  17. I think I get it-Subliminal Zebedee-hope that's ok-I like it-I like it like that(playing in the background)x

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  18. From wikipedia...
    Resting bitch face (BRF), is a facial expression that unintentionally appears as if a person is angry, annoyed, irritated, or contemptuous, particularly when the individual is relaxed, resting or not expressing any particular emotion.

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    1. I quite like that description , I’m told I have a good one

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  19. I remember El-ahrairah, and also the Black Rabbit of Inlé!

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  20. Humor must be a strong prerequisite for all on the night shift. Several days off are the reward for night shift work. Long words? What about: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

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  21. That's a new word to me -- I like it! I've been enamored with "pusillanimous prevaricator" ever since I had to learn it as a line I had in a high school play.

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