An Adult Should Really Know This - Silly Things You've Had to Tell People

[Sara Crewe]

My doctor doesn't even use BMI because it doesn't account for variables in physiology.

I once read an article that said most professional rugby players count as clinically obese using BMI because it doesn't take into account the fact that a given volume of muscle weighs more than the same volume of fat.  If it's true (and I'm no expert), I'm guessing the same goes for a lot of professional athletes in sports that require strength.

[MommyPenguin]

And even kids.  There was some news article not that long ago about a preteen girl who got a letter sent home from school saying she was obese, based on BMI.  You could see, just looking at her, that she was nowhere near obese.  She was a little on the stocky side and looked strong and muscular.  Her parents were really upset, because telling kids that being fit and strong for sports will get them labeled "obese" is a really backwards way of looking at things and likely to be counterproductive.

[faithlessone]

My doctor doesn't even use BMI because it doesn't account for variables in physiology.

I once read an article that said most professional rugby players count as clinically obese using BMI because it doesn't take into account the fact that a given volume of muscle weighs more than the same volume of fat.  If it's true (and I'm no expert), I'm guessing the same goes for a lot of professional athletes in sports that require strength.

My uncle does triathlons and used to be an Olympic-grade rower. He counts as "morbidly obese" on the BMI scale. In the majority of cases, I'd say that BMI is useless.

And on the thread subject - yesterday I had to tell a 27 year old man the difference between an "abbreviation" and an "acronym". *facepalm*

[Jocelyn]

My uncle does triathlons and used to be an Olympic-grade rower. He counts as "morbidly obese" on the BMI scale. In the majority of cases, I'd say that BMI is useless.

And on the thread subject - yesterday I had to tell a 27 year old man the difference between an "abbreviation" and an "acronym". *facepalm*

If a person has a greater-than-average lean body mass, BMI is going to be inaccurate, because it's calculated based on the assumption that a person has an average amount of muscle. For a majority of average people, it's a meaningful number, but for athletes or anyone who has more muscle than the average person of their height, it's going to be inaccurate.
LBM is a very important number in calculating the 'correct' weight for an individual. I once had mine done, and discovered that while I was overweight, my LBM was at the exact point where I always leveled off on a diet. My LBM was about 35 pounds higher than the BMI scale said my correct weight should be! No wonder I'd start to plateau at that weight; I'd lost most of the excess fat, and was now trying to lose muscle. I was pretty active at the time, using a bike as my primary means of transportation, and also doing weight lifting. No one, including my doctor, could guess my weight within 20 pounds. Even though I had excess padding, I was still built like a brick house.

[VorFemme]

Today in the Houston Chronicle, someone stated that working with bonsai was an "anecdote" for stress (paraphrased because I don't have the newspaper page in front of me - page one in the Star section (entertainment, gardening, comics, etc.).

I could see either "antidote" or "anodyne" as it could be a treatment or "partial cure" - but it is not a "story"...

My guess is that someone ran Spell Check without knowing that that word did not mean what they thought it meant....

[IMissItaly]

I once had someone ask me, in all seriousness, if rabbits crawl up trees. 

[jaxsue]

I once had someone ask me, in all seriousness, if rabbits crawl up trees. 

Well, do they? 

[Harriet Jones]

Today in the Houston Chronicle, someone stated that working with bonsai was an "anecdote" for stress (paraphrased because I don't have the newspaper page in front of me - page one in the Star section (entertainment, gardening, comics, etc.).

I could see either "antidote" or "anodyne" as it could be a treatment or "partial cure" - but it is not a "story"...

My guess is that someone ran Spell Check without knowing that that word did not mean what they thought it meant....

I read an online article a couple of days ago where they used antidote instead of anecdote ...  I assumed it was a spell-check or autocorrect error.

[squeakers]

I once had someone ask me, in all seriousness, if rabbits crawl up trees. 

Well, do they? 

Yes, they do.  They can't climb up straight smooth barked trees, though.  They have been sighted up to 20 feet up in the air.  They use low hanging branches and their sharp claws to get up that high.  Apparently they do this a lot during droughts in order to get to food.

[jaxsue]

I once had someone ask me, in all seriousness, if rabbits crawl up trees. 

Well, do they? 

Yes, they do.  They can't climb up straight smooth barked trees, though.  They have been sighted up to 20 feet up in the air.  They use low hanging branches and their sharp claws to get up that high.  Apparently they do this a lot during droughts in order to get to food.

Wow. I didn't know that! 

[dawnfire]

I once had someone ask me, in all seriousness, if rabbits crawl up trees. 

Well, do they? 

Yes, they do.  They can't climb up straight smooth barked trees, though.  They have been sighted up to 20 feet up in the air.  They use low hanging branches and their sharp claws to get up that high.  Apparently they do this a lot during droughts in order to get to food.

Wow. I didn't know that! 

neither did I and I've kept rabbits. I do know that rabbits can swim though

[Elfmama]

I once had someone ask me, in all seriousness, if rabbits crawl up trees. 

Well, do they? 

Yes, they do.  They can't climb up straight smooth barked trees, though.  They have been sighted up to 20 feet up in the air.  They use low hanging branches and their sharp claws to get up that high.  Apparently they do this a lot during droughts in order to get to food.

Wow. I didn't know that! 

neither did I and I've kept rabbits. I do know that rabbits can swim though

Of course they can swim!  Doesn't anybody else remember when the Rabbit of Doom* tried to swim out to the rowboat containing US President Jimmy Carter?  He had to fight it off with a paddle!

*No doubt it was related to the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog. 

[ladyknight1]

It has big, nasty teeth.

[Shalamar]

I had my own moment the other day.  My daughter asked if Mexico (not New Mexico) was part of the United States.  I confidently said "Yup", whereupon my husband and other daughter looked at me like I had two heads.  Not my proudest moment!

(Even being Canadian is no excuse for that!)

[Elfmama]

That's OK, Shalamar.  It balances out the people (mostly Americans, so they have NO excuse!) who think that New Mexico isn't part of the US.