# Say ninety-nine!



## Kraus

In Italian: "dica trentatré".


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## DearPrudence

Same in French:
"*Dites trente-trois*" (33)


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## ilocas2

Czech:

počítej do deseti - count to 10 !


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## revvok

Greek:
eneninta ennia (ενενήντα εννιά)


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## Rallino

Sorry, but what is this saying about ? Is it a twister tongue? or something like "cheese" for photographs ? I'm lost !


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## rusita preciosa

I also don't know what it means...
OP, can you explain?


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## bibax

I have found:



> In bronchophony, the physician often asks the patient to say “ninety-nine” or "baseball" while listening over the lung fields.
> 
> The choice of "ninety-nine" is the unfortunate result of a literal translation. The test was originally described by a German physician who used the phrase "neun und neunzig", which he chose because it contains diphthongs, calculated to cause maximum vibration of the chest. The translation "ninety-nine" is less effective in evoking the phenomenon. Better phrases in English include "toy boat”, "Scooby Doo", and “blue balloons".



And "blue moon".


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## jazyk

Same in Portuguese: diga trinta e três.


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## derail

I've never heard "Say ninety-nine" or any of the phrases mentioned above. Only "Say ahhhh".


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## ilocas2

ilocas2 said:


> Czech:
> 
> počítej do deseti - count to 10 !


 
It's nonsense, I didn't get it. Sorry.


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## ThomasK

I have the same problem as Derail: our GPs only ask us to say ahhh and/ or to deep breathly --- and not say a word ! ;-)


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## bibax

Same in the Czechlands.

*Dýchejte zhluboka!* (= breathe from-depth!)

*Řekněte áááááááá!* (= say aaaaaaaah!) is used in ORL.

Maybe it depends on the school.


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## elirlandes

In english - 
Cough please, or
Breath deeply, or
say Aaaagh


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## XiaoRoel

En galego: *di trinta e tres*.


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## Orlin

Bulgarian: 
Дишай(те) дълбоко!/Dishai(te) dalboko! = Breathe deep!
Кажи/кажете "А-а-а!"/Kazhi/kazhete "A-a-a!" = Say "A-a-a"!
(The 1st form is imperative sg., the 2nd - plural or polite sg. - in fact the 1st form will be used by the doctor only to children and the "polite" in all other cases.)


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## Zsanna

No numbers in Hungarian either, only the equivalent of _breathe (in) deep._ (= Lélegezzen mélyet!)


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## portumania

revvok said:


> Greek:
> eneninta ennia (ενενήντα εννιά)



There is not such an expression in Greek.


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## rayloom

In Arabic we say: say 44
2ul arba3a w arba3een


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## apmoy70

portumania said:


> There is not such an expression in Greek.


Indeed, our doctors usually ask us - politely or not - to:
1/ «Πες/πείτε ααα» (pes [imperative 1st person sing. of verb "to say"]/'pite [imperative 1st person pl. of verb "to say"] aahh)
2/ «Βήξε/βήξ(ε)τε» ('vikse [imperative 1st person sing. of verb "to cough"]/'viks(e)te (sometimes the epsilon is omitted) [imperative 1st person pl. of verb "to cough"]


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## danielfranco

In the pediatric hospital where I work I have never ever seen a doctor, nurse or respiratory techs ask anyone to say anything. They usually only ask for "deep breaths."

Then again, it might be a generational gap thingy. For example, I have never ever seen anyone do percussion bronchophony, not even specialists. So maybe some skills are either outdated or abandoned, I guess.

I can't remember any doctor ever asking me to say anything, either, in Spanish, in Mexico.

Maybe it's me.
D


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## Maroseika

In Russian sources I found recommendation to pronounce with deep voice words with the sound 'r' such as тридцать три  (33).


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## mataripis

Tagalog: Siyam na Pu't Siyam


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## Tamar

> I have the same problem as Derail: our GPs only ask us to say ahhh and/ or to deep breathly --- and not say a word ! ;-)


Same thing in Israel.


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