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.

While I do agree with what you said I do find joy in being able to wield a word as a sword when accosted by those that can't. Words ARE the best weapons. ;)

true, but even then, it often sounds pretentious...

and casts an unfavorable light on the writer.

leslie

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true, but even then, it often sounds pretentious...

and casts an unfavorable light on the writer.

leslie

That it does.

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Specializes in acute rehab, med surg, LTC, peds, home c.

Eaglelady,

Stop sucking the fun out of this post, its all good. I am sure nobody is going around belittling people for not pronouncing words right.

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Specializes in Renal/Cardiac.
Eaglelady,

Stop sucking the fun out of this post, its all good. I am sure nobody is going around belittling people for not pronouncing words right.

I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinions and I expressed mine thank you very much:yeah::typing:nurse:

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:sofahider

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Specializes in Renal/Cardiac.
:sofahider

:bowingpur:chair::lol_hitti

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Specializes in ER/Trauma.

miranda,

disagreeing with you about the english language is an expedition doomed to failure - especially from some one such as yours truly who has no where near the grasp on the language as you do. you bend words to your will whilst i can only dream of possessing such talent (and no - i'm not kidding).

but i shall attempt to put forth a counter point to your argument :)

bite me in the butt? but . . .
nice pun there :p

while i have your attention, roy
oooh look! shiny!

sorry, what were you saying? :chuckle: :p

reading half a dozen explanations of "petitio principii" made my eyes bug out and my head spin.
trust me - the examples are just the beginning (as you've no doubt realised - and yes "realised" is spelled with an "s" not a "z". and while we are on the subject of "z", it's pronounced "zed" not "zee". so there!)

i do understand the concept, but found a number of articles where it was conceded that the literal interpretation of "begging the question" was losing ground to the more useful and more easily understood meaning of "begging that the following question be asked."

i do not give ground easily to language changes just because of popular usage. enormity, to me, still indicates something hugely negative, not just large size. but in this case, except for a handful of logicians and philosophy majors, i think most of us find that "begging the question" begs to be used in the "mistaken" sense of "leads us to ask the following."

it's quite a handy little phrase, and i think the ivory tower denizens ought to share. :up:

you do bring up a valid point. here are 'some' of my thoughts on the issue:

* believe it or not, i'm not sure i'm committed to either particular camp )i.e. "no change what-so-ever vs assimilate as we go by"). part of this is tied to the fact that i have more than one "native tongue" (also known as "mother tongue" to some folks)... and that they are all under similar pressures to "assimilate" in our modern world. to give a simple example: just consider the words 'thou' and 'thine' in the english language.

my other 'mother tongues' are under similar pressure - to adapt to the modern world. the biggest fear/resistance to this problem, is that 'conformity would lead to losing identity'. and it is a valid argument. and a big one at that - for many cultures, one of their underlying foundations as a cultural identity is their means/forms of communication.

* as with any argument, it also depends on perspective. in a nutshell - how 'willing' are 'you' to accept 'changes' to the primary medium of your communication? a simple example i could present (and i realise it's not a perfect example but an example nonetheless) is the rise of sms/email/internet. it's one thing to see "lol" on the message board - but how willing are you to accept "lol" in face-to-face communication?

let us assume that our language has "progressed" further: would you be willing to present the 'ivory tower denizens' argument if i (|-|0$3 70 (0|\|\/3r$3 1|\| l337 $p34|

for the vast majority of our readers who were perplexed by that strange string of charecters:

"(|-|0$3 70 (0|\|\/3r$3 1|\| l337 $p34|

stands for:

"chose to converse in elite speak".

for a summary of "what the deuce is 'elite speak'" - click here!

yes - i recognise that allowing folks to use "begging the question" in terms not related to 'logical arguments' doesn't co-relate to entire masses of people resorting to "(0/\/\/\/\u|\|1(471|\|9 70 u5 7|-|r0u9|-| l337 5p34|

but it brings me back to my argument of "how 'willing' are 'you' to accept 'changes' to the primary medium of your communication?" :)

but hey! english has always been a "changing" language - incorporating many other terms, words, expressions and phrases into its own... throughout it's history. maybe this recent 'flap' will be a 'non entity' 50 years from now?

cheers,

roy

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Point of order. It is not, nor has it ever been 'elite speak.'

It is Leet speak. As in 'leet h4x0r!!!'

It's those uncool noobs that coined the phrase elite!!!

To be more specific. It USED to be leet. Now it's l337!

;)

ETA: No one actually uses this. Only script kiddies. It was funny for a second and is still funny when used as a joke but other than that...

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Specializes in ER/Trauma.
Point of order. It is not, nor has it ever been 'elite speak.'

It is Leet speak. As in 'leet h4x0r!!!'

It's those uncool noobs that coined the phrase elite!!!

To be more specific. It USED to be leet. Now it's l337!

;)

ETA: No one actually uses this. Only script kiddies. It was funny for a second and is still funny when used as a joke but other than that...

Yes. I knew that - but I figured folks were gonna be ridiculously confused about it anyhow...

.... so I chose the "easier option". ;)

cheers,

PS: You're mistaken is stating (assuming?) that only "script kiddies" use this ;)

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Specializes in Hospice, Palliative Care, Gero, dementia.

Gotta post a diss on myself. It's related to the point of "people who correct others with comments that include mistakes."

In a meeting of the faculty for a course that is offered second quarter of the second year of a three year program about some of the poor writing we were receiving. Not only were things not in APA format (which is that standard for all formal papers at the school), leading to problems with wrong citations, lack of pagination and cover pages, but there were problems with simple mechanics of grammar.

I offered to do a write up to help our students keep in mind some of the basic issues. I wrote it up, sent it around for comment. None of the other staff had anything to correct/add/delete, so I put it on the class site and went over it with the students.

Afterwards, I was showing it to another faculty and she immediately spotted an error: in a paragraph where I caution about using correctly spelled but inappropriate words (I used the example of the use of breathe when what is meant is breath), I used the word devise when I meant device.

:chair:

Keeps us humble, don't cha know.

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

I luv you awl no matta hows you tawk. Believe me I do NOT correct on the spot. With my southern dialect and drawl I'd be the first to go SPLAT.

But you have to admit that sometimes you just HAVE to smile.

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Don't feel bad marachne... I just had to go back and correct a glaring error.

At least no one saw it, or if they did, had the good grace not to mention it. ROFL.

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