doorknob
v.— «The request usually comes after Belkin is about to walk out of the examining room. Doctors have a name for this: Doorknobbing. Metcalf said patients often “doorknob” when they’re afraid to reveal the purpose of their visit. “Patients recite a list of minor complaints and the doctor wonders why they are here. Then as the doctor gets up to leave and has his hand on the doorknob, a patient will say, ‘I was wondering about this, I’ve had blood in my stool the past two weeks.” It’s such a threatening symptom they can’t bring themselves to say it except in passing,” she said.» —“Some patients give doctors a headache” by Julie Moran Alterio Journal News (White Plains, New York) Mar. 25, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The new book Bye Bye I Love You: The Story of Our First and Last Words (Bookshop|Amazon) by linguist Michael Erard is a deeply researched, often intensely personal exploration of the ways people communicate at both the beginning and end of life...
Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words are useful for far more, like applying for a job or...