To hate the phrase 'rushed to hospital'.

[HMOD]

Whenever I see it, I can't help but think 'Yeah but only to sit in the A&E waiting room for three hours with a cut finger/split lip'...hardly the stuff of gripping Casualty episodes.

Seems like people say it to make a situation sound more dramatic than it actually is! And as for checking in on Facebook at 'Local Hospital'...do not get me started.

Am I being unreasonable?

[Financeprincess]

Yeah, limited, start a Take a Break thread!

[limitedperiodonly]

I can't really. I used to read it sporadically and never used to work there. So I wouldn't be the best person, but I'll join in.

My other favourite feature was My Operation and the best one featured a woman talking about her missing fluffy bits.

You really want to know now, don't you It was actually quite poignant, in a totally inadvertent way.

I worked with two TAB refugees who told me the editor used to insist on a hellish annual sports day on a summer Saturday in Alexandra Park.

I'd say: 'You're adults. Just say no.' And they'd look at me with eyes that had seen too much and mutter: 'Just thank God that you'll never know those depths of degradation.'

I think the editor's idea was that working at Take A Break was FUN dammit. FUN. Because I'm a spiteful social cripple who's in charge of you and anyone who doesn't agree will suffer. Hahahahgahahahaha.

This may be deleted for reasons of libel. But, like George Washington, I cannot tell a lie. He probably doesn't read Mumsnet anyway.

He might even be dead. Maybe his staff have risen up in a Murder On The Orient Express-type scenario. And you can't libel the dead

[ImABadGirl]

I used the word fractured when I broke my neck, I thought fracture was a little bit better than broke.

The conversation went

me: mum, I've had an accident
mum: oh god, what now
me: I've got a little fractured vertebrae in my neck
mum: bleeding hell, where are you?
me: Norway
mum:

so, I stand corrected

[MistAllChuckingFrighty]

I think the finer points of fracture/break were lost on your mum at that point

[limitedperiodonly]

ImABadGirl My mum did the same except she was on a bus in Essex that came to a sudden halt. She was trying to minimise it too

[Twunk]

I've actually been taken to hospital in an air ambulance. I fell down a Chiltern. DH wants me rescued at sea next.

DS2 has been properly poorly twice, once at birth and now with leukaemia. I think I have "rushed" to hospital once or twice with fevers? Not sure. You are told not to delay. I do update Facebook, though not top priority obviously.

Hmmmm I have checked what I said last night and I used "DS1 back to hospital with a fever". Not guilty m'lud.

[Twunk]

I LOVE TAB!

I get friends to send or bring me copies. It's my guilty secret.

[Financeprincess]

Limited, I am fascinated by your posts!

I, too, loved 'My operation'. But perhaps not for the reasons the editor expected.

My all time favourite TaB story was the kebab van love rat who seduced ladies in his mobile love/kebab nest. The same story appeared in two separate publications, from the point of view of two separate scorned women. And there was an update in both, too.

Twunk, when my sister was teaching English she always asked me to send out copies of TaB. Her students loved it. It was a great day when she got one of them to say, "I knew it was wrong, but it felt so right".

[GoshAnneGorilla]

"I knew it was wrong, but it felt so right"

Yes! That is the essence of TaB and is usually always in relationship to sleeping with someone's brother (sometimes even your own).

[Twunk]

Finance you had me at kebab!

My favourite ones are the 60-something deluded women who meet a 25 year old handsome Turk on holiday and genuinely believe that he falls in love with them. It's not for a passport oh no. And their "lovemaking" is always "tender and passionate" and he always, but always "loves her curves".

[Financeprincess]

Oh yes, I love those stories. Obviously none of the women participating in the Turkish romances read TaB. If they did, they would know that the waiter with the "sexy smile and the eyes like melted chocolate" who made them "feel like a woman again" would soon be scalping them for cash to pay for a new iPhone because their tender, passionate lover had to sell his own phone to pay for medicine for his sick sister.

[YoDiggity]

I used to have a 'Take a Break map' (I know, why?) on which I'd mark the locations of the true life stories to see whether I could identify trends. Which I could. The TaB epicentres were the Bristol suburbs, South Wales, Hastings, Lincolnshire and Tyneside. Most of the "my sister seduced my husband when I was at the bingo" stories were from the north east. Is there something in the water there?

Wow. I thought it was just me who could spend hours doing odd things like that. I am never quite sure whether people like us are magnificent or just plain weird.

[Twunk]

I can only conclude it's the triumph of profound stupidity hope over a good hard look in the mirror experience.

[Twunk]

Oh MrsDV I share your daughter's ambition! I love the idea of you sharing the stories with her - I used to do the same with my friends at university (that's where my habit started).

I'm sure I will never see my ambition either. I just can't quite bring myself to do it... I have a friend (from a birth board) who has (to Chat I believe) - she had a baby then twins 11 months later after being told she was probably infertile.

It's actually been in there at least twice - they really do recycle.

[Twunk]

YoDiggity (great name!)

Magnificent and weird

[Financeprincess]

Re the ladies deceived by Mehmet: I expect they knew it was wrong, from reading TaB.....and yet, it felt so right!!

Yo, I'm also in the magnificent camp. I was never ashamed of the TaB map, even when my friends scoffed. I maintained that TaB and its competitors rally do show the best and worst of human nature in microcosm!

I acquired my TaB habit at university too. Perhaps it was the cheap thrill factor!

[moondog]

TaB stuff very useful when teaching English to adult learners.
Content is interesting but grammatical constructions are simple and a fantastic opportunity to learn some choice colloquialisms.

[GoshAnneGorilla]

There is now a TaB thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/1936518-I-knew-it-was-wrong-but-it-felt-so-right-Take-A-Beak-and-other-quality-reading

[Weegiemum]

I teach literacy/numeracy skills to young mums.

No idea how I'd keep on engaging them without TaB and the Metro!

[Financeprincess]

Oooooh thanks Gosh!!

[Chattymummyhere]

Only time we have "rushed" to hospital was with dd and we drove, was told it would be faster as it was a Friday night very late, ran straight into reception and taken straight to resus. I did not even post on fb or tell anyone to be honest, I am a poorly parent poster though my ds has asthma and even a viral thing gets him laid up pretty bad, like today all his done is sleep, cough and cry. Currently his asthma is not very well managed though as it's a recent thing so we are back with the asthma nurse next week.

[mrspolkadotty]

YANBU regarding certain situations.

I don't mind it in actual emergencies but YY to the posters who have said about people using the phrase to add drama to a story, that does my head in. I have one or two friends who like to exaggerate such things , particularly on FB.

I was 'blue-lighted' once when i was 14 and had my first FM flare-up, i was so ill they thought i had meningitis. We've had a few times with DS, once with breathing problems and the others for fits. I still feel panicky if i see an ambulance with lights and sirens pass by unless DS is with me where i can see him.