How is a person "Fatally wounded"? (1 Viewer)

[NickSo]

near miss

Hehe, this reminds me of the George Carlin skit where he talks about the exact same thing

 

[MikeM]

It's interesting that until watching the news recently, I always thought the word "casualty" meant a result in death. I kept hearing newscasters describe "casualties", but later found that the victims weren't dead. Seemed odd at the time since I always assumed a "casualty" meant death.

 

[Jay Heyl]

I don't know if any of this was prompted by the recent military action, but I heard recently there is a difference between "wounded" and "injured", at least in the military. If bodily damage occurs during an engagement with the enemy one is said to be wounded. If bodily damage occurs in theater but not during an engagement with the enemy, one is said to be injured. Wounded qualifies for a purple heart, injured does not. At least that's what the military expert on the radio said.

 

[Jay H]

Well, the wounded and injured thing makes sense, at least to me. Something along the same lines is the difference between poisonous and venomous, such as it's a venomous spider or venomous snake but a poisonous frog. Venom is injected while poison is injested. I.e. a spider/snake actual shoots the prey with venom while if you actually have to absorb poison through drinking it or skin contact, etc.

Jay

 

[David Lawson]

I usually see this at the bottom. my guess is in legal documents, it's to assure you that you've got the entire document and the blank page is not a printing mistake, or perhaps in a more sinister light, to avoid unauthorised additions, considering how easy it could be nowadays with computer printing.

This is correct, though it's not limited to legal documents. It is also included in most internal and/or confidential reports and manuals we print for our large corporate clients.

 

[BrianW]

This post is intentionally left blank.

 

[Devin U]

What I want to know is how the hell does someone die instanly of shot in the chest or in the stomach as protrayed in so many movies. Even in the heart, I would think the rest of the body would still be able to "survive" for several seconds before death occurs (defined as when electrical activity ceases in the brain? Where have I read that?).

I think your technical definition of death is correct, but it can sometimes be diffrent in real life. In the hospital I work at, especialy in the er, the doctors would "call a code" (prononce death) on somebody who may still appear to be breathing. Now, before someone starts shouting, the heart has stopped beating, although there may be electrical activity in the heart (PEA-pulseless elctrical activity). the functions which control heart rate and breathing are in lower areas of the brain (medulla, pons) called limbic centers. these may still induce responses like little gasping breaths even though the heart has stopped. it takes tissue 3-6 minutes w/o oxygen before it's truly "dead"

 

[Steve_Tk]

Why when two cars almost hit each other is it called a near miss? Shouldn't it be called a near hit?

If you hit each other then you nearly miss each other, but you didn't.

 

[Kevin T]

Not at all. "Near" is a spacial term that represents a relatively small distance. Hence, a "near miss" makes sense to me as a miss, but by a relatively small distance (so that it was almost a hit). In other words, "near" can be it's own word without being short for "nearly", which of course has a completely different meaning.

steve:

please look above and read d. scott macdonald's answer to this already asked question.

kevin t

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I think that 'near miss' just sounds funny because we don't use it in everyday life. You could say the bullet 'just missed him', but now it's past tense. Oh well, it was close.

I had a hard time a few weeks ago when they found the Peterson baby. They said it was a 'full term fetus' Supposedly, it died at 8-1/2 months, which is not full term, even though just 2 weeks isn't much. It was also apart from it's mother, so would it still be called a fetus? Was that just poor use of words, or do I not know what I am talking about?

Glenn

 

[Jason Merrick]

37-38 weeks is considered full term, because the dates can be off a little depending on the woman's memory of the dates of her last period. (Can you tell my wife is expecting?!)

 

[MarkHastings]

Local Man Decapitated To Death

Just like the old joke about an "Unexpected Heartattack" as opposed to the ones you plan in advance

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

It was also apart from it's mother, so would it still be called a fetus?

Without getting into icky details the child was almost certainly separated from his mother post mortem and through some mechanism other than normal birth. If fetus means a child not yet born, then he qualifies.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Local Man Decapitated To Death

LOL!

Did the subhead read, "Foul play suspected"?

Regards,

Joe