Klara didn’t let me sleep all night because she was in a playful mood and wanted attention. Then this morning we went to the pediatrician to get Klara’s jabs. During which procedure I experienced such stress that I’m now all hopped up on adrenaline and am furiously cleaning the kitchen.
Klara, in the meanwhile, is happily asleep.
Last I knew in American English children get shots at the doctors, not jabs (which are short quick punches).
Has usage changed?
LikeLike
Yes, I think “jab” is British. More descriptive sounding I think than “shot” — that sounds like a gun bring fired.
LikeLike
During which procedure I experienced such stress that I’m now all hopped up on adrenaline and am furiously cleaning the kitchen.
That really got to you. 😦 😦 It’s hard watching babies get shots. I promise she’ll remember nothing though. I certainly don’t remember my tetanus shot from which I still have the scar tissue.
LikeLike
She has learned to cry in this really guilt-inducing way where she turns the corners of her mouth downwards and looks so pitiful that I feel like the greatest evildoer in the world. It’s not a pleasant feeling!
LikeLike
“I certainly don’t remember my tetanus shot from which I still have the scar tissue.”
That’s probably from your smallpox vaccination (no longer given in the U.S. after 1972).
That vaccination wasn’t given with a hypodermic injection, but with a bifurcated (two-pronged) needle that was dipped into the vaccine solution, and then used to prick the skin a number of times. The area would then form a small, itchy blister over about a week, and after another week the scab would fall off, leaving the scar.
So that vaccination really was a “jab”!
LikeLike
“That vaccination wasn’t given with a hypodermic injection, but with a bifurcated (two-pronged) needle that was dipped into the vaccine solution, and then used to prick the skin a number of times. The area would then form a small, itchy blister over about a week, and after another week the scab would fall off, leaving the scar.”
LikeLike
A conservative literary critic and college professor
Clarissa's Blog 
Leave a comment