besna gaxykafke

["Steven M. Belknap" <sbelknap@UIC.EDU>]

la .andruc. cusku dihe
>What on earth is a 'brain fart' in English !!
>

Last week I attended a conference in Boston about preventing adverse drug
reactions. The concept "brain fart" was prominently featured. The AHD
defines fart as:

1. To expel intestinal gas through the anus; break wind

This definition does not get to the heart of "brain fart"
The etymology of the word is more instructive:

perd-. Important derivatives are: fart, partridge. .
perd-. To fart.
1. FART, from Old English *feortan, to fart, from Germanic *fertan, *fart=C5=
n.
2. PARTRIDGE, from Greek perdix, partridge (which makes a sharp whirring
sound when suddenly flushed). [Pokorny perd- 819.] See also pezd-

If you've ever gone partridge hunting (or if you will imagine doing so) you
will understand that the sudden sound of the flushed partridge is
unpredictable, startling, and imposed on a background of a quiet, relaxing
stroll through an open field. This is the sense of fart that "brain fart"
is using. In the hospital, a health care worker is said to have had a brain
fart when he/she inexplicably makes a catastrophic, irrational, and
unpredictable error despite a long history of accurate, reliable service.
Problems are often blamed on "brain farts" which unfortunately distracts
one from making improvements to the system which will prevent such errors
in the future.

I would probably say:

<peha besna gaxykafke>

to refer to the metaphor of brain fart, lest I be accused of a malglico. As
a metaphor this seems fine, if hard to say. A less metaphorical translation
might be

<spaji pensysrera>

"surprising thinking error"


cohomihe la stivn


Steven M. Belknap, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Medicine
University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria

email: sbelknap@uic.edu
Voice: 309/671-3403
=46ax:   309/671-8413