[Ads-l] Gomer Cool (1908-2012)

[Jonathan Lighter]

 It appears in Emily Mumford's _Interns_ (Harvard U.P., 1970), p. 208.

Snippet at Google Books.

JL

On Fri, Dec 4, 2020 at 5:11 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:

> A few web sites concur with deriving the acronym from that 1978 "Samuel
> Shem" novel, but JL’s entry in HDAS includes earlier cites (including one
> from a 1972 National Lampoon) in reference to ‘a patient, esp. if elderly,
> who is dirty, undesirable, or unresponsive to treatment, esp. a poor or
> homeless man who habitually seeks emergency-room treatment for minor or
> imaginary complaints’, which suggests that GOMER < ‘Get Out of My Emergency
> Room’ is a backronym.
>
> LH
>
> > On Dec 4, 2020, at 2:15 PM, MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY CCDC
> AVMC (USA) <0000099bab68be9a-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> wrote:
> >
> > In _Iatrian : The 1976 Yearbook of the Medical College of Pennsylvania_
> is a limerick about a VA Gomer:
> >
> >
> https://archive.org/details/iatrian76medi/page/3/mode/1up?q=%22a+gomer%22
> >
> > The term is not defined or said to be an acronym, but its use is
> consistent with the use by Samuel Shem and predates it.
> >
> >
> > ________________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
> James Landau [00000c13e57d49b8-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]
> > Sent: Friday, December 04, 2020 9:38 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: [Non-DoD Source] Re: Gomer Cool (1908-2012)
> >
> >
> > ----
> >
> > In the novel _The House of God_ by Samuel Shem  (pseudonym of Shephen
> Bergman) ISBN 0-440-13368-8 first published 1978, "GOMER", meaning a
> dislikeable hospital patient, is an acronym for "Get Out of My Emergency
> Room".
> > I have no idea if this be common medical slang or an invention by the
> author only for this particular novel.  My wife, who is an RN with
> considerable hospital experience, says she never heard "GOMER" outside of
> this novel.
> >
> > James Landau
> > jjjrlandau at netscape.com
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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