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Thursday 23 August 2018

Keeping quiet: a rant.

Sometimes it's what people don't say.

I've been having a series of eye operations over the last year or so. It's been a bit of a nuisance but at the same time quite interesting and entertaining (I'm pretty-much okay, now, thank you).

After each operation a letter is sent from the surgeon to my doctor to say that the procedure has been carried out and (quite inaccurately because, as I said, it's been fascinating) declaring the operation to have been uneventful.

I've just realised that the letter after the last operation (I'm sent a copy) omits the word uneventful.

I suppose that's rather a cunning way of conveying to the doctor that things went wrong without actually saying so.

Though quite honestly I'm not sure that cunning is absolutely the most desirable quality for a health system to have.

Word To Use Today: cunning. The Old English cunnende is related to the Old English cunnan, to know.




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