[Ads-l] triage

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Fri Nov 7 14:31:03 UTC 2014


I've just rewatched the scene in question.

Wahlberg indeed has three wounds in his leg. But none of them look life
threatening, so no ordinary sense of "triage" enters into it.

In fact, he starts at what could be the least serious wound, and winds up
removing what looks like a long, jagged bone fragment from the wound in his
thigh.

So I stick with my original interpretation.

Of course, since it's a movie review, the word could merely be hyperbolic
humor.


JL

On Thu, Nov 6, 2014 at 2:49 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: triage
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Nov 6, 2014, at 12:35 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> > 'Emergency medical attention':
> >=20
> > "Marcus removes one of the bullets he's taken by performing DIY =
> triage."
> >=20
> > http://entertainment.time.com/2013/12/25/lone-survivor/
> >=20
> > On himself. (Nobody else around for him to "triage," if that's what =
> you're
> > thinking.)
>
> Looks like it applies to deciding which of several bullets should be =
> prioritized for removal.  This does actually fit the relevant OED gloss:
>
> 2. a. The assignment of degrees of urgency to wounds or illnesses in =
> order to decide the order or suitability of treatment.=20
>
> Nothing there about who has to bear the wounds in question.  Presumably =
> one can even triage one's mosquito bites, figuring out which one to =
> scratch=85er, treat first.
>
> LH
> >=20
> > On Mon, Feb 4, 2013 at 10:31 AM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:
> >=20
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:      Re: triage
> >>=20
> >> =
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -----
> >>=20
> >> Word of this gets out and we'll have Congressional committees to ban
> >> assault weapons in the military.
> >>=20
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>=20
> >=20
> >=20
> >=20
> > --=20
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the =
> truth."
> >=20
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list