Those who remember Monty Python and the Holy Grail can recall a famous scene in which the Black Knight tenaciously denied King Arthur passage across a bridge and lost all his limbs in the process.
"Now stand aside, worthy adversary," the King told the Knight.
With blood spurting out from his severed arm, the Knight dismissed the injury as "just a scratch," and continued on with their combat.
terry gilliam film GIFGiphy
In many cases of injury, adrenaline kicks in and the shock of what happened sometimes overtakes feeling the pain.
Being numb from what can be unbearably excruciating convinces many injured people – like our valiant Knight – to keep on keeping on, even though all his limbs have been lopped off.
Wondering about the kinds of physical trauma people have played down, Redditor Madameknitsalot asked:
What's your, "Tis but a scratch!" moment?
Collapsed Lung
"I am a bartender in a nightclub. One night while working I was pouring a drink while I reached back with my other hand to open a fridge, and that's when I heard a 'pop' and got a huge pain in my back/shoulder area. the pain was pretty bad, but I was sure it was a pulled muscle and there wouldnt be much point in seeing a doctor other than getting meds. So I waited. fought through the pain which was so bad at times it was making it hard to breath."
"that was a Friday, i called off Saturday and had Sunday monday Tuesday off before I went back to work wednesday, once I biked into work. in all I waited 9 days total before finally deciding to go to the ER."
"I had a collapsed lung. called a spontaneous pneumothorax. 20 min after getting to the er I was put into emergency surgery. I was essentially breathing with only one lung. and any major impact To my chest would have collapsed the other and probably killed me."
Not The 'Rona
"Happened to me when I was in school just 3 months ago. I suddenly started not being able to breathe but I was like 'I am sure its nothing' when I got home I actually slept for 3 hours but woke up from the pain. Me and my family thought it was corona so we went to a hospital. I was quite shocked to learn I had a collapsed lung. But the worst part wasnt the lung, it was the operation and the aftermath. Having a tube inside you for a week hurts like hell. Havent slept for 5 days during my stay there."
– Janhan_
Hit By A Car
"I got hit by a car my freshman year of high school. I went flying lost consciousness for a split second when I hit the ground (thank god for helmet). When I came to people were all around me asking if I was ok, and what happened etc. I was like 'oh yea, I'm good. I'm gonna just get back on my bike and go now.' But didn't really move. Then people started asking me to call an ambulance and my mom etc. I was like 'why? I'm good.' I even told my mom on the phone I was still gonna bike home.but as I was saying that, the people around me had started to move one of my legs and I watched as my foot proceeded to NOT move. I had broken both bones in my leg completely in half and part of ankle.
"Just pure adrenaline and shock. I also vividly remember thinking 'huh this is what it feels like to get hit by a car'. Also the leg wasn't setting right (probably from movement) and the doctor decided to put me on laughing gas as he tried to crack my bones back into place. Was in a stupor laughing as I felt my bones grind."
Ant Bites
"A couple weeks ago, I stepped on an ant hill and got a bunch of ant bites on my ankles. 3-4 days later, the itching was unbearable. I wasn't sleeping, my legs were swollen, and no amount of benadryl or antihistamine cream was helping the itching. I finally went to a clinic to get a shot or whatever, because I clearly having some sort of allergic reaction. It was a staph infection that had spread from my ankles up to my knees. I would have died if this 1920 instead of 2020. I was on antibiotics for 10 days, and now several weeks later, the dead skin from the infection is still flaking off."
– level 1onzie9
Effects Of Shock
"I got hit by a car while riding my bicycle,flew through the air, bounced off his windshield breaking his windshield, my helmet and two vertebrae. Then thrown to the ground where my kneecap shattered and bone was sticking out of the skin. And as I lay there in shock (unaware of how badly I was injured) I thought 'I might be able to get back on my bike and ride home.'"
The Thing About Extreme ADHD
"So, it's fascinating."
"People with ADHD make *excellent* positions in triage / handling emergencies. I explain to others that it's like our brains are always underclocked, starving for stimulant, and nothing can maintain our interest for long because we burn through the unique information too quickly. Our brains are constantly seeking that 'high' of the thrill of unique experience, just to maintain operations and survive."
"It's why there's the oxymoron of 'hyperfocus...' I can sit and study something for hours, figuring out some new game's mechanics and min/maxing my build... because it's giving me what I need. I wish to heck I could control what I hyperfocused on. ADHD meds takes away my hyperfocus, but it at least allows me to (usually) work on what pays the bills... even if I'm at a quarter of the ability as when I'm hyperfocused."
"During an emergency, I am suddenly operating at 'normal' operations. Information is flowing in fast and hard, the brain's on a spike of natural stimulant, and I am more rational and clear-headed than anyone around me."
"Having jobs that constantly vary what I'm working on, dealing with high-priority customers that have an emergency, working on problems that require a unique solution and have strong time pressures... these are where I thrive."
Not Finished Playing
"I broke my neck on a huge shorebreak wave and didn't want to leave the beach so I continued swimming and playing volleyball until my friends noticed my neck was swelling up bigger than my head."
Getting To First Base
"Back in my baseball days, when I was pitching. I completely lost a pitch, and it beaned a guy in the jaw. He throws his bat down, glares at me with the glariest of glares ever glared, SPITS OUT BLOOD, then calmly runs to first base as though nothing happened."
"It was terrifyingly bada**."
Reddit user No-Challenge-3305 asked:
"What's the stupidest double standard you ever heard from someone?"
My Time Vs. Your Time
"I had a production manager who would come in late and leave early most days and then make problems for anyone who needed a half day for anything."
~ TheGreatGrappaApe
Giphy"My first manager at my current job was a harda** about hours. Would basically say 'There's the door' if you asked to leave early or come in late, no matter how rare or needed the occurrence was."
"Always talked about how dedicated he was."
"Dude would roll in at 9:30 leave at 11:00 for lunch. Get back at 1:00 and go home at 3:00."
"He constantly talked about how he just LIVES at work... even though we were all there, and he had been seen at the golf course every day."
"One of the funniest moments was when our client was parked behind him, and needed my manager to move his truck to be able to leave, but said 'I'm not gonna ask him to move his truck, because I'm afraid he'll just leave'."
~ bcos4life
"Stealing" What He Gave Them?
"My uncle used to hire undocumented immigrants while complaining that illegal aliens were stealing people's jobs."
"He liked to hire them because they worked hard and were cheap."
~ ScrubIrrelevance
"So he himself was stealing other people’s jobs because it’s not like the illegal immigrants were able to make the decision to employ them instead of a US citizen or person with a visa."
~ CaptainObviousBear
Just For Me, Not For Thee
"'I want an open relationship to explore my sexuality, but I don't want you sleeping with anyone else'."
~ MamaPagan
"I didn't realize people actually said stuff like this until my most recent ex said it to me."
"I was baffled, to say the least."
~ Vetzero
GiphyThey Are "Those People"
"My mom had a problem with welfare recipients until my sibling went on it."
"Then, back to nasty welfare recipients when they got off welfare."
~ Eringobraugh2021
"My cousin is on multiple government programs, and counts the seconds until her 3 separate child support payments come in... then sh*ts on 'Deadbeats' all the time."
"She even bragged about using her EBT to get tattoos."
~ bcos4life
Boys Will Be Boys
"My ex believed that teen girls who fall pregnant while still in school should be expelled and not allowed to finish school at all."
"Sounded like he thought they were contagious or something."
"After a heavy argument I said 'OK fine then boys must also be expelled', but no apparently it's not the same thing."
~ boekieblaker21
Piety Not In Practice
"My aunt calls me a sl*t for wearing short skirts."
"She doesn't know who the father of two of her three children is."
~ Perfect_Patience1109
Giphy"When I was young, a relative used to constantly call me a 'whore' and accuse me of being pregnant, when I had never even had a boyfriend."
"Meanwhile, she was sleeping with someone else's husband."
~ haloarh
"Isn't that usually the way?"
"The one calling people names and pointing fingers is probably the most guilty."
"Hypocrites."
~ NoThanksJustLooking1
It's Only An Entitlement If Someone Else Gets It
"My FIL served in Vietnam. When he came home, he used the G.I. Bill to get a free college degree (in social work)."
"He didn't like being a social worker, so he spent much of his adult life working as an appliance salesman, an electrical supply salesman, or (for significant chunks of time) was unemployed."
"He owned a house and raised two kids."
"When he retired, his sole source of income was Social Security."
"He never paid a dime for medical care because of his VA benefits."
"He sold his house (that he paid like $65k for in the 70's) for a healthy profit, moved to Nevada, and settled into a retirement community."
"If you ask him, he'd happily tell you that 'the problem with this country is all the people and their damned entitlements. I don't know why people don't just get a job'."
~ Redditor
Cheat Codes
"My friend’s mom said Men cheating and women cheating are different because men only care about the physical and not the emotional."
"Come to find out, she was being cheated on by her current husband, and I am assuming this is how she coped."
~ Head-Roll6309
"The responses I got to being cheated on from coworkers were different. I was blamed by other people for not giving her what she needed so obviously she should go out and cheat to get those things."
"And I responded with 'Do you think the same about men cheating?'."
"'Of course not. Men cheat because they can't be trusted and will f'k anything they can. Women cheat because they are being mistreated by men and it's his fault she has to go out and do that'."
"Was a great comment to me, the panic attack filled person whose life was falling apart and entire world was destroyed by her cheating."
"I left that workplace pretty soon after those comments."
~ polorat12
TMI, Dude
"Dude I worked with felt I needed to know that he'd have to have a wife and a mistress because he didn't want someone who sucked his d*ck kissing the kids."
"And I was like 'have you considered maybe washing your d*ck better?'."
~ VinnyVincinny
"Really they can’t reconcile respecting someone they have sex with."
~ Zer_0
Consent Is For Everyone
"'He can't refuse sex. He's the man. The woman always decides when and where we have sex. Everybody knows that'."
"In marriage counseling, my ex-wife (while we were still married). She was serious, too."
~ Azzizzi
"My ex-wife would get visibly angry when I wasn't in the mood but she was."
"More than once I'd ask her like 'you know how messed up it would be if these roles were reversed, right? If I got mad at you for not being in the mood?'."
"And her response was just 'well, you're a guy'."
~ AutoDefenestrator273
"Ugh, it sucks that you went through that, and I'm sorry. The idea that men want sex all the time no matter what is so damaging."
"Everyone is allowed to not want sex, and I wish people would stop acting entitled to other people's bodies."
"Even when people aren't reacting with anger if a male partner turns down sex, this myth still causes real damage in relationships. I know both men and women who've expressed fears that they're broken or their relationship is somehow dying if the woman has a higher libido or even if the male partner turns down sex once."
"It's awful and I really wish people would stop buying into this idea."
~ VinnyVinnieVee
And Now For Something A Little Lighter...
After these serious topics, let's end on a lighter note.
Unless you're a cat.
Feline Fatitude
"I call my cat chubby all the time but as soon as someone else does it, I get so offended."
~ Green_Bench7560
"I also call my cat fat. He is not. I asked the vet."
"But I'd be super offended if he developed the ability to talk in English and then called me fat."
~ Dmahf0806
Giphy"Growing up, we had a cat who was a grand lady but she was kind of a chonk. Pleasingly chonky."
"We took her to the vet for a regular checkup and got a different than usual vet, who came in and said, 'Whoa, well let's look at this little porker!'."
"My parents and I all got mad instantly. We were allowed to joke about her weight. No one else was."
"That's the rule. Also 'porker' sounds so rude."
~ SageThistle
GiphyDouble standards are all around us.
Which ones do you find particularly foolish?
