Cc D. ee

[pne]

In an attempt to understand the notation “Cc D. ee” on my blood donor pass (well, in one of them, but that’s a rant for another day; the other one has “CcD.ee”), I headed towards Wikipedia and found the article “Rh blood group system”; however, the notation there differed from what I saw.

Fortunately, the German article “Rhesusfaktor”, which was interwiki-linked from the English one, contained the same notation I found. And with the addition of the Wiener notation, I think I was able to convert: CcDdee = R₁r = D+ C+ E- c+ e+ = DCe/dce.

And according to the English article, that group comprises about 32.7% of a sample taken of the UK population in 1948, and according to the German article, about 35.0% of the population of Germany (a plurality; the next most populous group is just over half that, with 18.5% - the situation seems to be similar with the UK sample).

So in other words: I have bog standard blood. Absolutely middle-of-the-road. And by my AB0 type (0+), that makes me one of 35% in Germany, nearly the largest group (only A+ is slightly larger, with 37%—interestingly enough, in the UK, the percentages are exactly reversed). So again, bog standard.

Comments

[yvi]

Which just means that more people are in need of your blood :) Almost universal donor!

Me, I'm one of the <10% B+ people.

[pne]

Which just means that more people are in need of your blood :)

True enough, I suppose :)

Almost universal donor!

Indeed!

Though given that Rh- blood is fairly rare (about 10–20% of the population depending on the country, based on a rough skim of the table in here), I’m an even-more-almost-universal donor than if it had been a 50/50 split: about 85% of the population of Germany can probably receive my blood without a problem.

[yvi]

That's pretty much what I meant with the "almost universal". 50% wouldn't be quite as big a boost to the ego, would it?

(I, um, kind of wrote a few pages paper on blood group evolution and distribution during my Evolutionary Biology specialisation - the distribution is quite fascinating)

[pne]

That's pretty much what I meant with the "almost universal".

Ah, OK. I thought you meant "only one factor separates you from the ideal universal donor".

50% wouldn't be quite as big a boost to the ego, would it?

Well, it's more than 10 times as many as I could have reached with, say, AB+! (At least in Germany.)

(I, um, kind of wrote a few pages paper on blood group evolution and distribution during my Evolutionary Biology specialisation - the distribution is quite fascinating)

I can only imagine!

[steorra]

I don't think "bog standard" is an expression I've seen/heard before. Do you know why "bog"?

[pne]

I don't think "bog standard" is an expression I've seen/heard before.

Urban Dictionary has heard of it, at least. British slang, apparently, which could explain why I had heard of it and you hadn't.

Do you know why "bog"?

Not really. Perhaps it's related to the British slang "bog(s)" for "toilet, lavatory, bathroom" in some way?

Dictionary.com lists "bog-standard" but doesn't give an etymology.

[steorra]

I finally thought to check the OED, which does have it. This link should give free access to the entry for 3 days.

Basically, the OED indicates that the etymology is uncertain, but that it could be an alteration of "box-standard" with influence from "bog n.4", which is the "toilet" one - although "box-standard" isn't actually attested until later.