George,

I couldn't figure out why I didn't like the term Parkie.  Your analysis says it
well.

Charlie

George Andes wrote:
>
> The choice of calling one’s self (and, by extension, others) a “Parkie” or
> a “PWP” is a personal one.  It is , however, neither an easy nor a trivial
> choice.  Each term has its advantages and each has a serious drawback.
> “Parkie” sounds cute and flippant; “PWP” is obscure.  “Parkie”
> trivializes, “PWP” hides.
>
> Both individually, and as members of a community, we want to be taken
> seriously.  Our malady is not trivial.  It may not be an immediate
> sentence of death, but it nonetheless destroys lives, ours and our
> family’s, bit by bit, bit by bit, and so on forever.  We must keep our
> good humor for the sake of our own sanity, and that of our caregivers.
> Keeping a good humor does not trivialize our condition, but quite the
> contrary, treats it with the respect is deserves.  One speaks politely a
> to judge in his courtroom, one does not mock him, or laugh in his face.
> The name “Parkie” carries no weight.  The “-ie” diminutive suffix
> diminishes.  Ask a black person why “darkie” is no longer permissable.
>
> “PWP” unfortunately sounds a little like a depression era alphabet soup
> agency, the one you couldn’t remember on your final exam in US History.  A
> charge of obscurity seems a small price to pay for dignity.  Therefore, I
> choose “PWP” over “Parkie.”
>
> George Andes  64/16

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CHARLES T. MEYER, M.D.
Middleton, WI
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