Learn To Say It Correctly!!

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Doesn't it just drive you insane when someone tells you that Mr. Smith's O2 STAT is 96%?

It's O2 SAT people! Sat, short for saturation. I even hear respiratory therapists saying this. I am sooooo tempted to say something next time, but I know it's just petty, so I needed to vent here. Thank you.

Specializes in Day program consultant DD/MR.
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Like using "orientate" ?

steph

I wasn't using thats just what I found on dictionary.com for the actual word poster was saying. Even with the definition I don't know what the word means.....LOL

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sugar diabetes is what a lot of people in the south say, again, region dictates the slang.

What about these commercial with Wilfred Brimley "DiabetUS."

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Tracylvn said:
I wasn't using thats just what I found on dictionary.com for the actual word poster was saying. Even with the definition I don't know what the word means.....LOL

According to other websites (I am not going to post sites, just Google orient vs orientate and check some of the dictionaries) it is colloquial English. Since orientate is considered an 'informal' word and used mostly in the UK we can tag it as colloquial. Not as bad as slang but to be used in informal settings.

So for us in America, orient is still correct. That is if we want to be perceived as professional as everyone seems to want.

While we are talking about colloquial terms, apparently cleverer is colloquial as well. Proper for everyday use but if it was on a scientific or college level (or higher) paper it might be frowned upon. (That was for you Leslie ? ) Proper usage in American English is still 'more clever.'

My absolute biggest pet peeve is the fact that while people focus on what is 'professional' they have let the gap between formal and informal language close. Only English has done this. Every language that contributed to English and is still in use maintains separate formal and informal vocabularies.

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Tracylvn said:
I wasn't using thats just what I found on dictionary.com for the actual word poster was saying. Even with the definition I don't know what the word means.....LOL

Orientate is British English. I know 'cause I'm a transplant--came to the US from England eleven years ago. It's one of several words that is not only pronounced differently but has a different spelling than that adopted on this side of the pond. Another one that comes to mind is alumin-I-um. There is an extra "I" in the word in British English which totally changes the pronunciation from al-OO-min-um to al-oo-MIN-ee-um.

One thing I have never been able to figure out is why my client (I'm a medical transcriptionist)--who is South African with a British education and an otherwise excellent command of the English language--will insist on saying "not support-it-I've of fetal wellbeing." Perhaps that extra syllable is a South African thing, but it sets my teeth on edge every time I hear him. 

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Specializes in Psych, Ortho, Stroke, and TBI.
Stanley-RN2B said:

Also, Latte means milk. I hate when people say they have a latte. It's a Caffe e Latte - Coffee and Milk...

Yeah but that's not mispronounced, it's abbreviated.

They say it that way for shortness sake. If you were ordering in Italy, that'd be a problem. Kind of like saying "Coke" instead of "Coca Cola". Coke just rolls off the tongue more easily. Like saying "Milk of Mag" instead of "Milk of Magnesia", or "H and H" instead of "Hemoglobin and Hematocrit." "Pop" instead of "Soda Pop" (You get them point)

Besides, in America, we call a true plain Latte a "Steamer" meaning it's a Cafe Latte with no Espresso.

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Specializes in Day program consultant DD/MR.
According to other websites (I am not going to post sites, just google orient vs orientate and check some of the dictionaries) it is colloquial English. Since orientate is considered an 'informal' word and used mostly in the UK we can tag it as colloquial. Not as bad as slang but to be used in informal settings.

So for us in America, orient is still correct. That is if we want to be perceived as professional as everyone seems to want.

While we are talking about colloquial terms, apparently cleverer is colloquial as well. Proper for everyday use but if it was on a scientific or college level (or higher) paper it might be frowned upon. (That was for you Leslie :) ) Proper usage in American English is still 'more clever.'

:dncgbby::dncgbby::dncgbby:

My absolute biggest pet peeve is the fact that while people focus on what is 'professional' they have let the gap between formal and informal language close. Only English has done this. Every language that contributed to English and is still in use maintains separate formal and informal vocabularies.

This is the term I was reffering to ,Solicitate

So*lic"it*ate\, a. Solicitous. [Obs.] --Eden., from post #187 of mine.

Not orient vs orientate

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Tracylvn said:
This is the term I was reffering to ,Solicitate

So*lic"it*ate\, a. Solicitous. [Obs.] --Eden., from post #187 of mine.

Not orient vs orientate

Sorry, Tracylyn. I love this thread, but there are so many of us quoting other posts and quoting replies to other posts, my brain just went on a little vacation. 

I know that orient/orientate comes up over and over again in threads like this, and I thought that this time I would throw in (not up!!) my "two penn'orth."

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Specializes in Day program consultant DD/MR.

Sorry posted this before I saw the above post.

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Holy Buckets! I don't know if I can take much more after 23 pages. I think I fell off my chair at least 3 times.

I used to work with a nurse who said "I am going to go take my vitals", except when she said "vitals", she said it like Skittles (vittles). GRRRRR....still reminds me of nails on a chalkboard when I hear it in my mind...Must repress the memory.

People in Wisconsin like to say "I am going with". "Can I come with". "She went with". With what people. It is even worse that my child has picked this up, but hasn't realized that I hate this.

People in Vermont said "Hey, I've got an idear."

Although, I am not perfect either because when I moved and first introduced myself people thought my name "jockey". I couldn't figure out why they kept calling me that until someone explained to me that I was pronouncing my a's as o's.

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Zinc for sink. Drives me crazy!

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Specializes in Psych.

I hate hearing ambulance pronounced am-ba-lance...and with the last syllable prounced like the lance in Lancelot rather than like 'lunce'.

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Specializes in Day program consultant DD/MR.

People I used to work with pronounced ambulance am-boo-lance, it was quite annoying.

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