[Granville-Hough] 26 May 2009 - Longevity Advice

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Advice freely given at age 81, renewed at age 86.

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I am back on Lasix, which I hope will give me better nights of
sleep.  The other diaretic got me up every two to three hours.  No other
change.  There is a new drug in clinical testing in place of
coumadin/Warfarin/rat poison; but FDA has not yet approved it.  It is
also better for those with atrial fibrillation, which I now have.  So we
hope for some changes by this fall.  (note for 2009: this new drug did
not work well, and I am still on Warfarin)
     My weight with clothes was 182, and my blood pressure 120/65.  So
life goes on at age 81. (note for 2009: Fluid retention has become a
problem, and I have been about 195 in weight for three years.
     The British had a funny encouragement for the troops in WW II, or 
at least it sounded so to me at the time.  It was: "keep your pecker 
up!"  My son, David Hough, states it was from a line in the 
Gilbert-Sullivan play, "Trial by Jury," which dates to about 1870. So my 
advice to
younger folks about longevity is: "Keep your weight down and your pecker
up!"
     Love to all.  Grampa.

PS. "Take it from a businessman.  The war on drugs is just money down
the drain." Gary E. Johnson, Governor, NM (1995-2003)

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Comment by David Hough:

One can find various explanations for "Keep your pecker up" but this is as good
as any:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/217400.html

and indicates the origin of the phrase is much older than Trial by Jury.
Indeed the phrase used in Trial by Jury is

 Be firm, be firm, my pecker,
 Your evil star's in the ascendant!

See http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/trial/webopera/tbj01a.html
But American productions more typically change that to

 This is the Court of the Exchequer.
 Your evil star's in the ascendant! 



"Two nations divided by a common language" - either Shaw or Wilde or somebody
else.  See http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=146783