OT: Blair hospital visit

mcfeeley · Post by **mcfeeley** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 3:33 am

Too good not to share -- this came across the UK psychiatric nursing list. Original author wasn't given.

Tony Blair is visiting an Edinburgh hospital. He enters a
ward full of patients with no obvious sign of injury or
illness and greets one. The patient replies:

"Fair fa your honest sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin race,
Aboon them a you take your place,
Painch, tripe or thairm,
As langs my airm."

Blair is confused, so he just grins and moves on to the
next patient. The patient responds:

"Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat,
So let the Lord be thankit."

Even more confused, and his grin now rictus-like, the PM
moves on to the next patient, who immediately begins to
chant:

"Wee sleekit, cowerin, timrous beasty,
Thou needna start awa sae hastie,
Wi bickering brattle."

Now seriously troubled, Blair turns to the accompanying
doctor and asks "What kind of facility is this? A mental
ward?"

"No," replies the doctor. "This is the serious Burns unit."

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 4:25 am

"That there’s a falsehood in his looks
I must and will deny.
They say their master is a knave
And sure they do not lie"

(Robert Burns)

mat · Post by **mat** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 4:30 am

....Yup, we liked that.

antstastegood · Post by **antstastegood** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 12:01 pm

That was FUNNY

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 12:12 pm

LOL! Serious Burns.

*chuckles

IDAwHOa · Post by **IDAwHOa** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 12:44 pm

Aircraft at 40,000 feet.....

In other words, I DON'T GET IT!

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 12:56 pm

Google for Robert Burns.

fancypiper · Post by **fancypiper** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 1:03 pm

I needed a laugh this morning, but nothing from Tam O'Shanter?

I always liked the way my ex-wife would blush when she was reading the scene about the witches in the kirk.

NorCalMusician wrote:Aircraft at 40,000 feet.....

In other words, I DON'T GET IT!

Must be either a blonde or a bodhran player

IDAwHOa · Post by **IDAwHOa** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 1:15 pm

fancypiper wrote:Must be either a blonde or a bodhran player

HEY! Thanks for the complements!

Actually, I just do not have time to keep up on every little thing that goes on in the world.

fancypiper · Post by **fancypiper** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 1:24 pm

I don't think I have actually met someone without a vague knowledge of Robert Burns. He was the premier and best known Scottish poet.

I think I studied Robert Burns in English Literature in high school. Have they stopped teaching that now?

IDAwHOa · Post by **IDAwHOa** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 3:28 pm

English, what is english? I took as little American English as I could in High School and have totally avoided it in my adult life as well. Heh, I would not have even considered English English.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 3:30 pm

Burns was never really "taught", for me. In English class we were presented with one, maybe two examples, and these were more or less held up as regional curiosities and not to be taken all that seriously (that's provincialism for you). I was hooked, myself, and used to read his works for a couple of years up to high school (then came Led Zeppelin and all that). I could hear the voice of the poet, the Scots burr of it. It hit me where I live.

"Serious Burns Unit"....LOL!

mcfeeley · Post by **mcfeeley** » Mon Nov 24, 2003 8:13 am

fancypiper wrote:I don't think I have actually met someone without a vague knowledge of Robert Burns. He was the premier and best known Scottish poet.

I think I studied Robert Burns in English Literature in high school. Have they stopped teaching that now?

Hard to say -- Burns wasn't taught in my high school, and this was back in the '70's. I got interested in Burns after hearing Scottish vocalist Jean Redpath's renditions of his poems.

I tried the "serious burns unit" story on the staff at the emerency room where I work. One nurse got it, glowered at me over the awful pun; two of our doctors had no idea what it was about. Neither of these doctors are slouches in the cognitive dept. -- one of them used to do things like work out complex 20 step organic chemistry problems in his head.

-- Dan M.

burnsbyrne · Post by **burnsbyrne** » Mon Nov 24, 2003 8:21 am

My brother, Robert Burns, became a grandfather on Friday. Just thought you all would like to know that he's still creative after all these years.
Mike Burns