In an earlier episode, we discussed whether there’s a word for “a drawn-out leave-taking”– when, say, a friend says “goodbye” but keeps thinking of “one more thing” to say before exiting. Martha suggested the term doorknob-hanging. Several listeners wrote to say that physicians commonly use the terms getting doorknobbed and doorknob question to mean something similar. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Getting Doorknobbed”
Remember that guy a while back who was looking for a term for when someone just can’t seem to end a conversation?
They say goodbye, they walk to the door, but then they just keep talking?
I’d mentioned that my friend Bob refers to that as doorknob hanging.
And that prompted an interesting email from Kelly, who’s a family physician in Basalt, Colorado.
Kelly writes,
In medicine, we use doorknob in a different way.
Physicians talk about getting doorknobbed or a doorknob question or she doorknobbed me at the end of the visit.
What this means is the patient comes in with something simple like a head cold and we spend the whole time talking about this problem.
Then at the end of the visit, when we’re ready to wrap up, the patient will ask another unrelated question.
Oh, by the way, doctor, I’ve been having this crushing chest pain when I walk up hills. Is that a problem?
Of course, the doorknob question is often more important than the original reason they came to the office and requires much more time to sort out, which means that you run behind in your schedule the rest of the day.
Well, Kelly, thanks for that information about the vocabulary of medicine,
And thanks for explaining why every time I go to the doctor’s office,
I end up reading so many back issues of Highlights Magazine.
