Getting out of the hospital is a lot like resigning from a book club. You're not out of it until the computer says you're out of it.
Interpretation
This quote humorously compares leaving the hospital to formally resigning from a book club, highlighting the bureaucratic processes involved.
Erma Bombeck's quote uses humor to point out the often tedious and bureaucratic nature of institutional processes like leaving a hospital. It suggests that despite feeling ready to leave, the official confirmation and the 'computer' or administrative approval are what truly dictate the end of the experience, mirroring the often mundane and impersonal nature of membership in clubs or organizations.
In practice
This quote is perfect for a light-hearted speech about dealing with hospitalization.
We've got a generation now who were born with semiequality. They don't know how it was before, so they think, this isn't too bad. We're working. We have our attache' cases and our three piece suits. I get very disgusted with the younger generation of women. We had a torch to pass, and they are just sitting there. They don't realize it can be taken away. Things are going to have to get worse before they join in fighting the battle.
You hear a lot of dialogue on the death of the American family. Families aren't dying. They're merging into big conglomerates.
Making coffee has become the great compromise of the decade. It's the only thing "real" men do that doesn't seem to threaten their masculinity. To women, it's on the same domestic entry level as putting the spring back into the toilet-tissue holder or taking a chicken out of the freezer to thaw.
Not everyone is comfortable with the kissing ritual. My husband is one of them. Her refuses to press lips with anyone except his wife, mother, and dog. If someone wanted to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he would refuse until he had been formally introduced.
There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.
Maybe age is kinder to us than we think. With my bad eyes, I can't see how bad I look, and with my rotten memory, I have a good excuse for getting out of a lot of stuff.
Whiskey is carried into committee rooms in demijohns and carried out in demagogues.
A Puritan is someone who is desperately afraid that, somewhere, someone might be having a good time.
Humor distorts nothing, and only false gods are laughed off their earthly pedestals.
Here I am paying big money to you writers and what for? All you do is change the words.
The only bright spot in the entire evening was the presence of Kevin "Tubby" Matchwell, the eleven-year-old porker who tackled the role of Santa with a beguiling authenticity. The false beard tended to muffle his speech, but they could hear his chafing thighs all the way to the North Pole.
Donald Trump is the Honey Boo Boo of rich people.
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