Five Point Fives

When I was at Friends for Life a few weeks back I learned a new diabetes expression.

Five point five.

At first I didn't know what it meant. I overheard a few people saying things like "he's a five point five" or "you hang out with a lot of five point fives".

Being a fan of the art of figuring things out on my own, I didn't ask what they were talking about. I tried to guess.

Why would one person be a five point five and another person not be one? What makes someone a five point five?

It wasn't a gender thing. Or a height thing. Or a body shape thing. Or a shoe size thing. At least it didn't seem to be.

Any guesses?

Perhaps it's easier if you see it written as 5.5 rather than five point five.

Someone who is a 5.5 is someone who doesn't have diabetes. It's a funny thing to call them but makes sense because every time you check their sugar, even after a tray of maple fudge and baklava (mmmmm, maple fudge and baklava!), their blood sugar will be 5.5. Or thereabouts.

(Oh, and apparently my American friends call these folks ninety-nines. Same idea, different system of measurement). 

Being a five point five isn't a bad thing. At least I don't think people were saying it was. I certainly don't think it is. In fact 95% of my friends are five point fives so, if it's a bad thing, I'm so oh elle in the friend department.

I think that I'm going to add my own little caveat to the definition. For me, a five point five is someone who doesn't have diabetes but who also recognize that some people do have diabetes. They might not get all the ins and outs of it but they know it exists.

So I'm happy to add five to fives to my vocabulary but I'm making a point of distinguishing between them and the folks I like to call the don't get its.