Learn To Say It Correctly!!

medsurgicalsally · Jul 20, 2008

Oh my goodness... I can't stand it when people say PHENER-GRAN instead of PHENER-GAN! don't add an extra R!

Eaglelady · Jul 20, 2008

We need to take geographic location into consideration however. If you ever have a chance to travel the country, you should find the differences in annunciation and language articulation interesting. I know language differences exist in most other countries as well.
I was raised up north and know my annunciation of specific words is considered strange by the people I currently live and work around. My articulation of words such as carotid and trauma are considered strange by many people in the southwest.

I totally agree I am from the south so just because I pronounce things wrong doesn't mean I am illiterate or do not know what I am talking about I think we need to have a little more compassion with people cause even those that are being so picky have their faults too and other peoples cultures definitely should be considered

AR_RN · Jul 20, 2008

OK, I've just read all 34 pages and have to admit I was :roll for some of them. I'm just graduating in 11 days, so my experience is limited in the nursing area, but these types of things have always driven me nuts. My current one, however, has been mentioned many times...centimeter/sontimeter. I've recently had it explained to me by a very straight faced instructor that although they refer to the same unit of measurement, "sontimeter" is used to refer to suction, chest tubes and pressure related things, and centimeter is used otherwise. My next question of course was, "Why?" She looked straight at me and without missing a beat said, "I don't know."

RN_inTexas · Jul 20, 2008

Ok, I'm a yankee born and bred and have been in the south (Mississippi then Texas) for 10 years now. I simply cannot get over the phrase "Do what now?" when used in place of "Pardon me?"

For example, I ask another nurse the name of the patient in the next room, she doesn't hear me so she says, " Do what now?"

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHH! I didn't ask you to DO anything!!! If you can't hear me just say pardon, excuse me, please speak up or a plain old HUH? But DO WHAT NOW makes me want to put knives in my eyes.

Oh, I feel better now, thanks!!

btw, Levaquin is properly pronounced LEE - va - quin , see the cute little accent mark over the e? But only the drug reps say it that way.

Eaglelady · Jul 20, 2008

Well I am glad the nurses I work with have accepted my southern language altho being in the nursing program for as long as I have been has helped me and so do they (the nurses I work with but they do it in a professinal way)

Akkasha · Jul 21, 2008

Wow, what a lot of entries.....this is fantastic. Don't have time to read all so I apologize if I'm redundant. I agree with all of us that hate our colleagues saying things like "Dr Jones, do you want to start AmNIodarone?" It makes us seem like we don't care about what the drug is...if we can't recognize the letters, do we really know what it does? Maybe it's a labor and delivery drug...amniotic fluid and all...

Having oriented MANY nurses outside the US, for whom English is their second (or third) language, I have to say, they aren't usually the ones making the mistakes.

Abbies · Jul 21, 2008

has anyone mentioned

prostrate?

uhgg!! it's prostate !

mamagoofy · Jul 21, 2008

I'm a CNA and I know I do and I will say and do things wrong but maybe some of these people thats how they were told or thats how they thought they heard it said. either way if these people aren't told in a respectful way there saying or doing something wrong how will they ever learn to do it right? we look up to ya ll we know you know way more than us and I for one wouldn't mind if you told me hay your saying it wrong its post to be.... try and remember back when you first started didn't you get anything wrong? and how did you learn? you were told by the nurses that had been one for a lot longer than you and in a nice way I hope if not shame on them and remember how they made you feel and tell the ones around you there doing it wrong like you would of wanted to be told when you first began. we cant learn the right way if no one is willing to tell us and just laugh are talk about it and us behind our backs. I'm good at what I do BUT I'm not no where perfect at what I do. and I don't think these people would mind being told hay your Saying it wrong its like this.... in this line of work we really cant afford to say one word wrong it could get someone hurt or kill. when I'm around new CNA and I see something they should know I tell them hay you know when I was in school they said to..... did your school say anything about it.... I've show a few girls something they didn't know and wasn't told in there school and a few ways of doing things they wasn't show in school. and they were grateful for it to and nurses have done the same for me. all I'm saying is you have the years of knowledge teach with it. it will make you feel good when they smile and say thank you. and if they don't well at less you tried to help and cant no one ask for more than that

dpbrown523 · Jul 21, 2008

How about "exasturbation"! I actually read that in a nurse's note!

BeckyERRN · Jul 21, 2008

OK, as an ER nurse, I really hate it when people say "I have abominable pain and the only thing that help is that Dilauda, oh and since I've been vomiking, I'll need that Phenegren, too". Ridiculous. Ah, and bronchal ammonia. Geez.

Cheryl Seneca · Jul 21, 2008

Although it has been going on for a month, I've only just now come across this thread. It warms my heart to see that I'm not the only grammar Nazi in the world. I admit to perfectionist tendencies (although I'm not perfect--or so I'm told) which I suppose accounts for my having so many grammatical pet peeves. If I remark that a certain usage error is a pet peeve, my daughter asks, "So, is this pet peeve #7,285?"

I read all 300+ comments here in one sitting and I'm surprised to see that my #1 pet peeve isn't mentioned. It is the misuse of I and me. If I hear, "Would you like to go to dinner with Susan and I?" (or some variation thereof) one more time, I think I'm going to scream. The rule is so simple: eliminate the other person and say the sentence. "Would you like to go to dinner with (Susan and) I?" No. Obviously, the correct phrasing is, "Would you like to go to dinner with (Susan and) me?"

For some reason, 90% of the population seems not to have been taught that rule in school and are of the understanding that I is always correct. It drives me bonkers. The wealthiest man in the world, Bill Gates, doesn't know the rule, nor does Conan O'Brien, who regularly uses I when he should use me. Both were educated at Harvard and Conan actually graduated--so much for the Ivy League.

While I'm at it, another one that grates on me is the use of the word 'pitcher' when referring to a photograph. You don't have your 'pitcher' taken, you have your PIK-chur taken. I can't explain it, but it seems that the entire state of Utah uses cameras solely to take 'pitchers.' The misuse of that word screams ignorance to me--perhaps unfairly but, nonetheless, it does.

My, how I do go on (and I could easily go on and on and on and...). I'll get off my soap box now. Bubba is going with Susan and I down to Sears to have our pitchers took.

francesca22 · Jul 21, 2008

I was visiting a friend in hospital recently.

Passed the nurses' station where I spotted a sign that exhorted RNs not to use QID, or PRN, other time honored Latin based acronyms in their charting.

'Write it all out,' the policy read.

I asked why??? Was told that many of the new RNs are not Latin, Math, hard science collegiate prepared, are recruited from foreign countries, or are trained in two year fast-track AA programs where such nuances are not covered.

Is this the new face of nursing? Down-skilled?

In my experience as an inpatient in hospital two years ago, had mostly foreign RNs, many from the Philippines, several from Zimbabwe.

As I am hearing impaired and cannot discern accented speech well, I was essentially lost in verbal exchanges with these nurses, even though I made it clear I was not understanding and why.