Learn To Say It Correctly!!

[SheriLynnRN]

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.

[suespets]

You'd think if one can use 'a' before user(because the 'u' sounds like 'y',) one could say an rn because the sound or the 'r' sounds like a vowel. besides, some words are just not fluent sounding,are gutteral sounding,where they needn't be,just more difficult to say. I had some friends iwho went to a different grade school than I, who had learned the rule re: vowels, a e i o u & sometimes y & w. I don't know when those 'times' were though;Don't think thwy did either as I recall.

[Atheos]

You'd think if one can use 'a' before user(because the 'u' sounds like 'y',) one could say an rn because the sound or the 'r' sounds like a vowel. besides, some words are just not fluent sounding,are gutteral sounding,where they needn't be,just more difficult to say. I had some friends iwho went to a different grade school than I, who had learned the rule re: vowels, a e i o u & sometimes y & w. I don't know when those 'times' were though;Don't think thwy did either as I recall.

Yea, there are different groups that fight over the rules. :chuckle

I just happen to prefer the traditional rules.

[adoyo]

:chuckle:chuckleI think that nobody can be perfect in 'sayin it correctly' though we should try our best to say it correctly when referring to medical terms. A coleague of mine was very happy to tell me that our boss was 'suspecting!' , meaning that the boss was actually 'expecting a baby!! Sometimes people call it a slip of tongue or typing error or whatever one wants to blame it on but all in all, we should strive to say it correctly.

I have enjoyed reading peoples' input in this topic !!

[Kyluh]

Once when my grandmother was in the hospital, she told my Dad that there were so many IMMATURE babies being born!! Too funny. Bless her heart.

[Hands and Heart]

You'd think if one can use 'a' before user(because the 'u' sounds like 'y',) one could say an rn because the sound or the 'r' sounds like a vowel. besides, some words are just not fluent sounding,are gutteral sounding,where they needn't be,just more difficult to say. I had some friends iwho went to a different grade school than I, who had learned the rule re: vowels, a e i o u & sometimes y & w. I don't know when those 'times' were though;Don't think thwy did either as I recall.

I say/write "an RN" because the article chosen is based on the "sound" of the word/letter following it (as stated in the posted link from EricEnfermero). I learned a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y. Never heard of the w as a vowel sound. The sometimes y would be in words such as sweetly or correctly where the y has a sound of "e". Can't think of any others.

[NexLvlDad]

Sonitmeter also bugs me. I get irritated slightly when I hear "orientate" used as a verb as opposed to orient or orientated as opposed to oriented as an adjective. Very unprofessional IMO.

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

What about 'an historian'?

Sounds have never dictated 'an' or 'a' usage. I put the rule in a post above.

An is only appropriate in front of vowels and silent h's.

Switching the articles in a phonetic (spoken) instance is correct. In an orthographic (written) instance it is not. This is because of changes in pronunciation. Certain words may change in differing locations requiring different articles. In text there is no change and the proper article should be used.

Of course different schools of thought differ so...

[Atheos]

What about 'an historian'?

A before a hard h. A historian. A hotel. A helicopter.

An before the silent h. I believe the rationale is because since the h is silent the first letter is really a vowel like in hours. Ours would be a perfectly good spelling except for the need to differentiate it from hours I guess.

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

I think you'll find that 'an historian' is widely used, even in professional writing. I've seen it like that, for years, and have always wondered why that particular word was handled differently.

[leslie :-D]

I think you'll find that 'an historian' is widely used, even in professional writing. I've seen it like that, for years, and have always wondered why that particular word was handled differently.

but nowadays, it's not considered grammatically proper.

read this link and scroll to A or An?

http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/all.shtml

leslie

[miko014]

I say/write "an RN" because the article chosen is based on the "sound" of the word/letter following it (as stated in the posted link from EricEnfermero). I learned a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y. Never heard of the w as a vowel sound. The sometimes y would be in words such as sweetly or correctly where the y has a sound of "e". Can't think of any others.

It's also for words that don't have a vowel but do have a 'y': tryst, myth, shy, spy, rhythm, lymph, cyst, etc. There are also many words that start with a vowel, but have no other vowels in them, such a onyx or Egypt. There are plenty of other examples where y acts as a vowel, but do have other vowels in them such as gynmasium or typical. And many, many more...

[GeauxNursing]

It's a double negative, and when you think about it it just sounds off anyway so you don't have to be a grammer champ to be able to figure that one out..

you meant to misspell "grammar", right? (Did I misspell "misspell?) ha!

anyways, my instructors have trouble with many, many words. It drives me crazy! Poikilothermia, "peritoneum" when it should be "perineum", (how'd you like to do that peri care?) erythropoeitin,(she just can't say it), "phenergren", "vancomyacin" (there is no A!)...

oh! and apparently there is a newly discovered neurologic disorder out there. have you heard of it? it's called Lou Garrison's disease.

one last one...

a girl in class reported on her pt's LLE: edema and arrythmia present. (erythema)