Quote of the Day (James Thurber, on a Medical Situation Often Occurring in Winter)

“There is, of course, a special problem presented by the type of person who looks well even when he doesn’t feel well, and who is not likely to be believed if he says he doesn't feel well. In such cases, the sufferer should say, ‘I look well, but I don't feel well.’ While this usage has the merit of avoiding the troublesome words ‘bad’ and ‘badly,’ it also has the disadvantage of being a negative statement. If a person is actually ill, the important thing is to find out not how he doesn’t feel, but how he does feel. He should state his symptoms more specifically — ‘I have a gnawing pain here, that comes and goes,’ or something of the sort. There is always the danger, of course, that one's listeners will cut in with a long description of how they feel; this can usually be avoided by screaming.”—American humorist and cartoonist James Thurber (1894-1961), The Owl in the Attic and Other Perplexities (1931)