crock
n.— «Hospital staff privately refer to them as “crocks”—people who repeatedly show up in emergency rooms demanding expensive, exhaustive tests to unearth the elusive cause of their numerous symptoms. Reassurance that their tests don’t show anything amiss has the opposite effect, convincing these patients that physicians haven’t looked hard enough—or don’t believe them.» —“Cognitive therapy answers the unexplained” by Sandra G. Boodman Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa) Aug. 31, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Debbie from Keokuk, Iowa, shares a funny story about her family’s tradition of speed-cleaning the house if guests were coming over. Her mother would declare, “Quick, guys! Whited sepulchre approach!” Her use of the term whited...
Brenna, a nurse in Rapid City, South Dakota, says she was on a hospital elevator full of people and when the doors opened and someone in the back was trying to get off, she piped up with One side or a leg off!, but no one understood that phrase. It...