Talk:checkup

RFD discussion

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Rfd-redundant:

1. A routine visit to the doctor, dentist, or the like.

   The appointment was just for a checkup.

Redundant to:

1. A routine inspection.

   I took my car in for an annual checkup.

​—msh210℠ (talk) 21:30, 22 July 2012 (UTC)

Which part is the checkup? The whole visit, or just the part in which something is inspected? --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 18:04, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

Which definition were you asking about? DCDuring TALK 18:12, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

Both. Each seems to imply a different answer to the question. --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 18:20, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

Ah, so you think the trip to the doctor's office or garage is one sense and the inspection is another? I doubt you're right, frankly — I suspect inspection is the only correct sense — but it's possible that cites will support it. If they do, we'll see whether they support it only for a medical visit or generally; in the latter case, we can delete the sense I nominated, and in the former not. Right?​—msh210℠ (talk) 19:29, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

To me the big difference is that I can go away while the car is in for a checkup, but not while my body is in for a checkup. For many definitions, the distinction between person/animal and deemed-nonsentient object suffices for a sense distinction. DCDuring TALK 20:01, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

But if you take your kid in to the pediatrician for a checkup, you can go away while he's in there. Does that make the kid more like the car and less like you? —Angr 20:44, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

They are two possible differences. There is a pretty big difference between you and not-you that may often dwarf all other differences. Selfish-gene theory might be taken as implying that your child might be much more you than you if you were near death and child was not. DCDuring TALK 20:55, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

• Strong Keep: You getting checked up and your car getting checked up entail completely different things Purplebackpack89 ^{(Notes Taken) (Locker)} 23:04, 24 July 2012 (UTC)
  • But this RFD is about the noun, checkup, not about the action, getting checked up.​—msh210℠ (talk) 18:40, 25 July 2012 (UTC)
    • When you're checked up, you receive a checkup. If the senses of the verb are different (e.g. replacing an air filter and using a tongue depresser), the noun ones are too Purplebackpack89 ^{(Notes Taken) (Locker)} 13:50, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

Not necessarily. falloff does not have all the meanings that would correspond to the verb fall off, for example. Equinox ◑ 14:01, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

Well, checkup does. Whether falloff does or doesn't is immaterial, it's not at RfD Purplebackpack89 ^{(Notes Taken) (Locker)} 14:53, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

Why? Just because you say so? Evidence please. You missed my point: obviously falloff isn't listed. It was an analogy. Equinox ◑ 16:57, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

Instinctively keep, but for reasons I can't articulate. Mglovesfun (talk) 17:32, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

• Delete. You can get a checkup done on anything that requires routine maintenance, be it a machine, human, animal, or plant. Consider the following examples of things that can get checkups (these sentences are made up, but similar uses can be easily found in the wild):

• I went to the oncologist for a checkup.
• I took my kid to the pediatrician for a checkup.
• I took my cat to the vet for a checkup.
• I hired an arborist to give the trees out front a checkup.
• I took my car to the mechanic for a checkup.
• I took my laptop to the help desk for a checkup.
• I scheduled a time for the HVAC company to do a checkup on my air conditioner.

I think these are all the same sense (even though they are all performed by different kinds of experts and entail different kinds of tasks). Maybe we could write a unified definition that is more explicit about the range of activities it covers, something like "A routine inspection, such as a routine medical examination or routine maintenance on a car" perhaps? —Caesura^(t) 18:18, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

Strong Keep: without any further clarification, I would the word checkup on its own refers to a routine visit to a physician. Also looking it up on a few dictionaries (Webster's, oxforddictionaries.com), it seems that the medical sense is the primary use of the word. The example at oxforddictionaries.com also seems to imply that a checkup need not be routine: "a mother and her young daughter were taken to hospital for a check-up after a fire at their home" --WikiTiki89 (talk) 12:05, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

I don't think that's actually a counterexample; that could still be considered routine. It's easy to find plenty of analogous examples that explicitly include the word routine there. "Brasov was taken to a local hospital for a routine examination after officers noticed a bump on her head." [1] "Curt Gitch was taken to Allen Hospital for a routine checkup after being rescued by local responders…." [2] Routine doesn't just mean "occurring on a regular schedule". —Caesura^(t) 01:34, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

I agree with Caesura that a unified definition would be best, but avoiding "routine" (the fact that checkups are often done routinely is not relevant to the meaning). The OED has "A careful or detailed examination, scrutiny, or comparison with a list; spec. a medical examination." Dbfirs 19:10, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

Kept no consensus. DAVilla 14:40, 2 December 2012 (UTC)