I believe that
the same bit of brain that recognises song lyrics also handles accents. I also think that part of the brain in my head is not very well developed. Mrs SLVA gets ticked off because I keep singing the wrong lyrics to songs.

Back in the early 90s I registered at a new medical centre with a new doctor. They just assigned one to me at random. I noticed that every doctor I saw about the place was of a Middle Eastern to South Asia (India, Bangladeshi etc) origin and they all had quite strong accents to match.

I began to get tired of asking them to repeat themselves as it was quite embarrassing, so I stopped asking and then struggled in silence to decipher what they were saying; it was like an audio version of shorthand. I then hit upon an idea.

I thought if there was an English doctor, I might be allowed to switch to them and make my visits easier. I approached the reception and asked:

"Are there any white doctors I can see?"

Not English, white. I didn't even qualify the question with my problem with the accents. The receptionist who, like all the other admin staff, (and all the nurses I saw there) were white, looked quite uncomfortable.
"Err, no there isn't"
"Ah, ok then, thanks anyway" said I and left. When I got home, I was about to mention it to my missus when it dawned on me what I had said.
17 years later, and I am still cringeing at the thought.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 11:45, 2 replies)

S'funny
I didn't have that problem when I was growing up, and then married and had my babies, as our practice doctors were all white. I never saw a non-white one there until after one of the senior partners retired.

This was apparently because he was personally opposed to non-white doctors. He didn't piss off until about 10 years ago. How did he get away with that, one wonders?

Now we have super-efficient Asian doctors who know all the latest treatments and don't treat us like tiresome children. My Mum loves them!
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 12:16, closed)

The surgery I'm at now
is about 50-50, and if I make an appointment I'll take whoever's free the soonest. If I need to go back about a certain problem, I try to get the same GP who saw me the first time.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Tue 6 Apr 2010, 12:26, closed)