I first heard the use of 'It Depends' when I was in school. It used to show wisdom of great depth, when instead of a straightforward answer, one chose to give a complicated answer. One did not give the answer straight out. One said 'it depends' and waited for the listener to ask details. Then one would say what the variables were and how the answer changed for each variable.
Yesterday my Registrar tried it on me. There was a young patient with very high values of serum FSH and LH. Poor woman was suffering from gonadal failure. I thought it was a good opportunity to educate the Registrar.
"What are the normal values of serum FSH and LH in a woman?" I asked her.
"She looked at me intently, apparently trying to find out if it was a trick question. After some time she realized there was no trick in it. Her frown cleared, but she did not answer the question. So I asked again, in a slow, patient, understanding manner. She realized she had to answer it.
"It depends" she said and paused.
"What does it depend on?" I asked, as I knew the routine was.
"It depends on which phase of the menstrual cycle the blood sample is collected in" she said.
"OK. Please tell me the values in different phases of the menstrual cycle" I said.
"I don't know any" she admitted.
I think this goes to show that one cannot fool an examiner by stalling tactics like 'It Depends' ga
Yesterday my Registrar tried it on me. There was a young patient with very high values of serum FSH and LH. Poor woman was suffering from gonadal failure. I thought it was a good opportunity to educate the Registrar.
"What are the normal values of serum FSH and LH in a woman?" I asked her.
"She looked at me intently, apparently trying to find out if it was a trick question. After some time she realized there was no trick in it. Her frown cleared, but she did not answer the question. So I asked again, in a slow, patient, understanding manner. She realized she had to answer it.
"It depends" she said and paused.
"What does it depend on?" I asked, as I knew the routine was.
"It depends on which phase of the menstrual cycle the blood sample is collected in" she said.
"OK. Please tell me the values in different phases of the menstrual cycle" I said.
"I don't know any" she admitted.
I think this goes to show that one cannot fool an examiner by stalling tactics like 'It Depends' ga
