The 'Plaice' of Language

ARTICLE IN PRESS Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice (2007) 13,1–3 www.elsevierhealth.com/journals/ctnm EDITORIAL The ‘Plaice’ of Language Terminologies and titles have been widely debated in Much of the popularity of Fawlty Towers has been what most of us currently recognise as complemen- attributed to the consistently beautifully crafted tary and alternative medicine (CAM) research. and brilliantly delivered scripts. For example, Indeed, the relative merits of the words such as Basil’s irascible and insulting diatribes towards his complementary, alternative, unorthodox, non-tradi- guests; the crushing one-liner put downs directed tional, holistic, unconventional, integrative and at Basil by his wife Sybil—his ‘little nest of vipers’; others are widely debated, both in terms of what the hopelessly scrambled English sentences ach- they might variously include and exclude, their ingly uttered by the well-intentioned Spanish possible overlaps, and in terms of which should be waiter Manuel; and the senile and drunken bab- adopted or replaced.1–5 This is perhaps understand- blings of veteran soldier turned permanent hotel able in a diverse empirically based discipline—CAM resident Major Gowen. research—finding its feet and distinguishing itself. The episode, Waldorf Salad, takes its name from However, here we argue that the issue of language a pivotal scene where we encounter Basil’s ignor- runs far deeper than current discussions on labelling. ance of how to make a Waldorf salad (a salad Using Fawlty Towers as a light-hearted entry originally created in New York’s Waldorf-Astoria point, we briefly discuss how language is a much Hotel in 1896 that consists of apples, celery, broader matter of geographical specificity and walnuts, grapes and a mayonnaise sauce) and his interpretation. Although there are specific lessons ensuing pathetic attempts to cover up the limita- for CAM research, the underlying messages are tions of his culinary vocabulary. Basil, having been relevant for any field of international research that unable to persuade his chef to do overtime and spans countries and continents. cook for two American late-arrivals (the Hamil- The mere twelve episodes of Fawlty Towers,first tons), tries to avoid making the Waldorf salad televised during the years 1975 and 1979, are widely himself by declaring ‘we’re just out of Waldorfs’. considered to be one of the finest examples, if not When this strategy fails to work, Basil resorts to the finest example, of British situation comedy. One tempting his guests with an ‘Olde English thing’—a memorable episode, Waldorf Salad, teems with ‘Ritz Salad’, consisting of apples, grapefruit, and painfully funny scenes of miscommunication, mis- potatoes in a mayonnaise sauce. Similarly, when understanding, and mischief. Witness the following the Hamiltons order screwdrivers, Basil has in mind dinner table exchange between a guest staying in long metallic tools, rather than glasses of vodka Fawlty Towers—a small hotel located in Torquay, on and orange juice. In short, the hilarity of Fawlty the ‘English Riviera’—and the snobbish, misanthro- Towers, like any other comedy for that matter, is pic, repressed, and incompetent hotel owner Basil intimately bound to the serious question of how to Fawlty, played by John Cleese: make language come alive, that is, how to tickle humour from characters and elicit laughs in the Guest (choking): Urrggh! Excuse me, there’s audience. sugar in the salt cellar. Similarly, in health care, the questions about Basil Fawlty: Anything else? language and its uses are far from trivial. On the Guest: I put it all over the plaice. one hand, as health geographers have highlighted Basil Fawlty: All over the place? What were you in their research, language helps make and char- doing with it? acterise clinical settings. Indeed, whilst contro- Guest: All over the plaice! versy, debate and inter-professional conflict have 1744-3881/$ - see front matter & 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ctcp.2006.11.002 ARTICLE IN PRESS 2 Editorial often arisen over the naming of sites, services and always context dependant. Note in the above facilities,6 the specific language used by specific quotation how the refusal of context fuels the health professional groups is a vehicle for profes- tension between Basil and his American guest, sional power struggles that (re)create clinical Mr. Hamilton. Similarly, in healthcare and health settings as complex social and cultural phenomen- research, universal diseases, services and practices on.7 On the other hand, health professional are often referred to differently because they are researchers have highlighted that, at a micro-level, produced and consumed in different contexts. the terminologies and titles clinicians use everyday Consider the classic example of emergency rooms, to describe activities and objects within practice or ‘ER’s, in the US and Canada, and Accident and environments can be problematic. For example, Emergency Departments, or ‘A&E’s in the UK. whilst specialist medical language certainly under- Similarly, non-conventional medicine is more often pins clinical practice, whenever a lack of under- termed ‘Alternative medicine’ in US, and Comple- standing exists or deliberate negative labelling mentary medicine in the UK. Beyond these popular occurs, if heard, descriptions of patients being examples, many others exist. The more subtle the ‘attention seeking’, ‘uncooperative’ or ‘difficult’ distinctions, the more these distinctions have the can cause upset. Taking a slightly different per- potential to complicate research and its applica- spective on clinical language, this viewpoint briefly tions. As practitioners sift through journal articles, considers, via the Waldorf Episode, some problems they certainly need to be aware of and reflect on and issues associated with the interpretation of these disparities in labelling. What they might be research. searching for, might be far closer than they had It is argued that both researchers and practi- imagined. tioners have to read critically and be aware of the Mr. Hamilton: Could you make me a Waldorf geographical specificity of the language that they salad? are reading. Put differently, we can learn a lot from Fawlty Towers by acknowledging ‘plaice’, that is Basil Fawlty: A, w, wa-wal? the instable meanings that infuse language. In so Mr. Hamilton: Waldorf salad. doing, practitioners can avoid the often debilitat- Basil Fawlty: Oh, I think we’re just out of ing and always unnecessary mix-ups that result Waldorfs. from underestimating the geographic specificity of Second, it is important to recognise that in all language. For us, the ineluctable geographical medicine, some things are only specific to, and specificity in terminologies and titles holds the found, in only one place (or very few places) and, potential to compromise a practitioner’s ability to moreover, that certain things are not just con- find good evidence and its suitability for their textual they are enacted through interrelation- needs. Let us step into to the lobby of Fawlty ships. The importance and fragility of the Towers and consider how these geographic specifi- interrelationships between hosts and guests is cities revolve around three main themes: context, frequently the stuff of mealtime discourse at interrelationships, and partiality: Fawlty Towers. Mr. Hamilton: What a drive, huh? Everything on In health research, when phenomena are large- the wrong side of the road, the weather—what scale, ‘important’ or well publicised, our inter- do you get for living in a climate like this, green relationships with other places, people, and ob- stamps? It’s terrible! jects are often brought to the fore, such as in the Basil Fawlty: Sorry about this. cases of recognising what Primary Care Trusts (UK) Mr. Hamilton: Took five hours from London. or Health Maintenance Organisations (US) are. Couldn’t find the freeway. Had to take a little Other times however, our dependence on the back street called the M5. relationships with things in other parts of the world Basil Fawlty: Oh, I’m sorry if it wasn’t wide may be far less obvious. For example, when enough for you. A lot of the English cars have learning about a particular form of therapy, that steering wheels. can only be found in China. When searching for Mr. Hamilton: They do, do they? You wouldn’t evidence then, practitioners need to recognise that think there was enough room for them inside. the uniqueness of places and things is borne out through their interrelationships with other unique First, it is important not to forget that in both places and things. conventional and complementary medicine, things that are essentially similar between places are Mr. Hamilton: What I’m suggesting is that this often referred to differently in different places. In place is the crummiest, shoddiest, worst-run short, language and the language of any medicine is hotel in the whole of Western Europe. ARTICLE IN PRESS Editorial 3 Major Gowen: No! No! I won’t have that. There’s Third, seemingly universal labels actually refer to a place in EastbourneyWhat’s it’s name? different things in different places. Because lan- guages are deeply embedded in the histories of Third, seemingly universal labels might actually places, there are no easy solutions to these refer to different things in different places. When ostensible problems. There is, however, a need reading research, it is important to recognise the for a greater awareness when reading research limitations—the partiality—of language. Why? about the nature and extent of these geographical There is no such thing as a language, what some disparities and specificities in terminologies and theorists call a ‘meta-language’ that can convey titles. Recognising subtle, but often neglected, everything there is to convey. Speaking the whole language issues—such as the ones outlined truth and nothing but the truth is materially above—helps avoid the Waldorf salads in all impossible.

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