Sunday, April 30, 2017

Scare Quotes (and behind the scenes)

Catskill, New York

I don't recall encountering the term scare quotes when I was an English Major nearly fifty years ago. Quotation marks that were used not to indicate a quotation were referred to as false, or emphasis, quotes. I kind of like the scare word instead. But the internet-driven rampant overuse of false quotes for emphasis seems ill-advised. Junk mail and junk ads on otherwise-worthwhile websites are probably the worst offenders, but one expects those to be illiterate. It's also somehow weird to see this infecting off-line vernacular communication.

On the behind the scenes front, tomorrow will be three weeks out from surgery. I'm still exhausted. It seems that spending a couple hours reading a non-fiction book from the new release shelves at the library requires about an equal time back asleep. At least I was able to drive to the library and select a book a few days ago. Driving somewhere to look for some pictures is still out of the question. This may be progress, but the pace is glacial.

4 comments:

MikeR said...

Not so glacial. At the same point after surgery, I asked my urologist about using the riding mower, because ... Well, he glanced at my wife, who smiled knowingly, then said to me, "Look, you just had a major surgery. You need to give yourself time to heal." (I wasn't allowed to drive until 4 weeks, by the way.)

You'll get to the point where your energy comes back, but it won't last the entire day. Maybe today you hit the wall at 3 PM. Next week, 4. And one day, you'll realize that you got a whole day in. Took me months to get there. Another thing is, I was COLD all the time. That gradually vanished as well.

Martina said...

Sometimes I just sit in a chair and take photos of the things I see around me. Not quite as exhausting as driving around looking for photos and always a nice mini project.

James Weekes said...

Carl, I had cataract surgery on April 6th and again on the 20th. On the recovery scale it probably ranks as a 1, and your surgery probably is up near 7. I had two 2 1/2 minute procedures and yet, here I am eleven days after the second one, still getting quite fatigued by early afternoon. I am pretty sure we are fairly close in age,I am 70, and that is a factor. Just let it come, and it will, and soon you'll be prowling around Torrington like the old days.

Carl Weese said...

Mike,
I am thankful not to have had the cold thing. I am aware of it from reading but it hasn't hit me, seems to be related to the anesthesia without reference to the specific procedure.

Jim, I'm 67 and the exhaustion reminds me of retuning from a Saturday 80 mile bike ride in the steep hills of western Ct 30 years ago, without any of the fun. That exhaustion was good, this isn't. But i realize it will pass. Maybe.