I was in the anaesthetic department today, sitting up at the reception desk, chatting to the secretary about the newsletter, when two people I didn’t know walked in.
They were from occupational health, and they were there to book an appointment to learn how to do mask fittings (it’s a pandemic thing). The secretary took both their names to book them in, and the woman gave her name as Ms Fingeroff. We raised our eyebrows at that, as she was no doubt expecting, as she then launched into a story as to how her family got the name. Apparently many years ago in Russia, a group of Jews were given the choice between some awful thing which I didn’t hear the details of, or agreeing to be deafened, blinded, or having some fingers cut off. Her ancestors chose the latter and in a very Russian manner, were known as the Fingeroffs from then on. Our secretary, admittedly of a very sensitive disposition, was already turning green by this time, and was desperate for the visitors to leave so she could be sick, but the woman herself told the story with absolute relish. She even showed us her hands gleefully to prove that she herself had the full complement of digits.
Well, you learn something new every day. I wonder what name the deaf and blind families went by?