Are You a Member of the allnurses.com Grammar Police?

[PacoUSA]

Please give a shout out if you are a grammar or spelling cop!

My two biggest pet peeves on here:

(1) Definately

(2) HIPPA (I have been known to publicly reprimand the offenders!!)

There are others, but enough for now ... what are YOUR contributions? I know your out there (and YES I did that on purpose) ...

[NocturneRN]

drives me nuts when someone says "click." it's "clique," people! like creek, but with an "l" substituted for the "r.":eek:

both pronunciations are considered acceptable in my dictionary, but that's probably because so many people mispronounced it that dictionaries eventually accepted the "click" pronunciation...just as some accept "febuary" as a proper pronunciation for "february."

as long as we're on foreign words, "voilà" is one word that seems to be very popular, but that often gets butchered beyond recognition. i've seen it written as "wallah," "wa la" and at least five other variations.

[DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN]

I find it distressing that Clara Barton butchered the English language. Oh dear!

“The door that nobody else will go in at, seems always to swing open widely for me.” - Clara Barton

[sharpeimom]

my southern-reared soft spoken husband married a dam= yankee and we pronounce many words very very differently. mostly we either accept our regional differences as part of our individual charm,

but it drives me absolutely bonkers when my husband (who has a doctorate-level education) continues

to pronounce the very very basic word toilet incorrectly. not toy-let but ter-let... :eek::eek: aarruuuggghh!!!:eek::eek: oh no! i married archie bunker!!

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

I avoid being critical of poor grammar and spelling, for three reasons:

#1-As has been pointed out, many Allnurse members are of different nationalities; while they may communicate verbally in English, they may find written communication more difficult.

#2-Far too many younger members acquired communication skills via their cell phones, sending text messages. This has led to a "language sub-culture" which cannot be described as English. Hopefully they will eventually become so irritated trying to decipher illiterate doctors' scrawls that they perceive, and correct, the errors of their ways.

#3-One of the plays I studied in English literature was "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw. He states (through his character Higgins) that the English have no idea how to speak their own language; it's to be hoped they're a little better at writing it!

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

I HATE the word "effectuate", as in "to effectuate change."

And you "ask" a question, you don't "axe" it.

[NocturneRN]

it bugs me when someone says "proceed to go to bed..." instead of "i went to bed.":eek:

don't proceed. just do whatever it is!

for some reason (probably advertising), there are quite a few ways people "gussy up" perfectly appropriate words and terms like that. "i purchased a townhome" is one that i've always thought was weird. why not just say "i bought a townhouse"?

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

Now, I am Southern through and through in my speech. I am always 'fixin' to do something, or 'goin' to the store. But it drives me absolutely bonkers when people type like this. I want to be the grammar/spelling police on my brother's Facebook page - going. Playing. Sleeping. Get it????

[DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN]

I avoid being critical of poor grammar and spelling, for three reasons:

]

#3-One of the plays I studied in English literature was "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw. He states (through his character Higgins) that the English have no idea how to speak their own language; it's to be hoped they're a little better at writing it!

LOL Given that Shaw was Irish I would imagine there was a little knife twist in that.

[Lucky0220]

I was an early poster on this thread, which I absolutely love! Just thought of another one: Graph vs. graft. Or graphed vs. grafted. Used incorrectly for example, when nurses speak about watching trends on the graphics pages of the patient's chart. They'll say " I grafted the vital signs." They should say I graphed the vital signs.

And, I know this is bringing another thread into this one, but if I had a dime for every seasoned nurse that says phenergran, I'd be a millionaire, out on my yacht, and not even posting on this site!!!

[morte, LPN, LVN]

hmm clique, got me on this one.....NEVER heard it pronounced that way, I would think it an affectation if i had....

rural New Englander here....

[NocturneRN]

I was an early poster on this thread, which I absolutely love! Just thought of another one: Graph vs. graft. Or graphed vs. grafted. Used incorrectly for example, when nurses speak about watching trends on the graphics pages of the patient's chart. They'll say " I grafted the vital signs." They should say I graphed the vital signs.

And, I know this is bringing another thread into this one, but if I had a dime for every seasoned nurse that says phenergran, I'd be a millionaire, out on my yacht, and not even posting on this site!!!

You're right! And don't forget "Cardiazem," and "Risperidal."

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

Well, there is a difference between past medical history and history of present diagnosis.

I have never seen "history of present diagnosis" written in a chart. I have seen "chief complaint", "admitting diagnosis", "pre-operative diagnosis" and "post-operative diagnosis", but never "history of present diagnosis". Thanks for sharing Camaro!