Roundabout way of talking

Have you ever had a physician who was trying to speak of matters, perhaps sexual or otherwise embarrassing, in a roundabout way? You know, when people seem to imply “you know what I mean”, and you sometimes don't?

I had this embarrassing episode when I was 19:

I was about to leave home to study in another city and, basically, our doctor was inciting me to get vaccinated against hepB since it's sexually transmitted and she expected that, as I was no longer living with my parents (and my overprotective mother who disapproved of teenage relationships), I would be sleeping around. But she was saying that in a rather roundabout way (no mention of sex, just about not living at home and "seeing people"), and I did not catch immediately what she was aiming at, which probably made me seem quite naive and awkward; and then I realized and blushed.

I was around 14 when I found some rather largish red spots on my lower abdomen. I was a bit naive about sex at that age, but I did know that discoloration of the skin can indicate skin cancer. So I got my parents to send me to the doctor. Turns out it wasn't anything like skin cancer.

But just before leaving his office, where he'd looked at the spots while I was alone, he asked me with a big knowing grin what I thought the spots were caused by. I didn't catch his drift and mumbled something about skin cancer. Then he turned serious and said something about it certainly not being that..

Only years later did I realize he was asking if I thought the spots were caused by semen from masturbating (which I didn't know about at that age). I think he was disappointed that I didn't turn beet red from embarrassment.

I did however feel a twinge of embarrassment for being thought an alarmist in assuming a worst case scenario.

A couple years into our marriage I got a UTI. The doctor, when I went in for my “okay all is clear”, had the funniest discussion about how this might have been caused. Newly Weds and sex, though he skirted way around saying sex.

His embarrassment when talking made the discussion so funny. I still occasionally see him and this memory pops into my head. His gentle embarrassment was sweet.