Pareidoilia

The human tendency to attribute meaning to random stimuli. Our brains are fascinating! This concept was mentioned in our neuroscience lecture today, so I was very amused when I saw a tomato smiling at me from my dinner plate this evening.

This week we’re onto our next placement - psychiatry! The lectures have been very amusing (including one from my Uncle!) One in particular made me laugh, it had a slide filled with a whole list of medical acronyms... FBP (full blood picture), LFT (liver function test), etc...

Then from about halfway down the list, I saw one I didn’t recognise... TTFO?? I googled it, and discovered that it is “an expletive expression roughly translated as ‘Told To Go Away’”.
One doctor who had written it on a patient's notes was asked by a judge in court what the acronym meant...luckily for him he had the presence of mind to say: 'To take fluids orally'.