Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801
"No malignancies were detected in any of the biopsy samples."
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Those would indeed be sweet words to hear when there is a possibility of a malignancy.
That reminds me of an incident that was surely not comedic in any way, but is an excellent illustration of how somebody's poor language skills can make a bad situation worse than it already was:
About 30 years ago, the wife of one of my co-workers had been suffering with serious health issues for several months, and the doctors seemed clueless. Finally, they came to the conclusion that she had some form of cancer, but a biopsy would be necessary in order to determine exactly what the situation was.
Everyone on the school staff knew the day when this man's wife was having the biopsy performed, and although the medical projections for her lifespan were not encouraging, everyone was hanging their hopes on biopsy results that were negative for cancer, or--at least--indicated a type of cancer that was more readily treatable than other types.
As the man was waiting--at work--for a phone call telling him the results of the biopsy, the school principal approached him. The principal was a decent person, albeit one who would never qualify for the category of, "intellectual", and--in the opinion of many teachers--wasn't even of average intelligence.
When the principal approached the man, he spoke in hushed tones, and asked, "How did your wife's
autopsy go?"
Although his intentions were good, the principal's extremely unfortunate language mistake made an anxiety-ridden man even more anxious. And, needless to say, the principal had no clue as to the mistake that he had made.
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Even squirrels know it! 
