Linguistic Pet Peeves

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Okay, y'all. In spite of what some people will say, your use of language will influence what people think of you, and how intelligent and/or competent they think you are.

My current number one: You don't LOOSE your license, you lose it. (If your license is loose, you need to capture it...)

Don't even get me started on loosing YOU'RE license...

What are other some other linguistic "nails on chalkboard" for folks?

Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.

Pretty much all of the things mentioned above make me twitch.

To put a nursing spin on things, in our hourly rounding in Epic we have to state what activity the patient is engaged in that hour.

I work nights, and I wish more patients would actually SLEEP at night so I can select the "sleeping" option in Epic. Instead, most people are usually awake (seriously, I need to buy a gazillion copies of this book and pass them out to every room!), so I end up having to select the "laying in bed" option in Epic.

While it does happen occasionally in the hospital, fortunately most of my patients are LYING in bed rather than LAYING (getting laid) in bed the vast majority of the time!!!

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Specializes in PICU, Pediatrics, Trauma.
Nauseous is the word for something that causes nausea. Spoiled milk is nauseous.

Nauseated is the word for someone experiencing nausea. A patient can be nauseated.

I correct my friends on this a lot!

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Specializes in ER.

What about all the ways people pronounce metoprolol?

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Specializes in ER.
I say meh TO pro loll, but I've heard Meto- PRO-loll ...and these are just with the correct syllables used.

How do you say it?

Your way, the right way, of course.

A lot of people seem to say Me-tro-po-lol, and other ways. More dyslexia, I suppose.

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I say meh TO pro loll, but I've heard Meto- PRO-loll ...and these are just with the correct syllables used.

How do you say it?

I say it the way you say it. It's irking when nurses say it wrong but I can forgive the patients.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
People in a specific region of the US bother me when they say: "That car needs washed." NO NO NO. That car needs to be washed.

Um, guilty. What is this specific region of the US so I can see if I'm in it?

Sight vs. site. Today I relieved another nurse who had documented local: 15mL distributed between laparoscopic trocar sights. Really? I didn't know laparoscopic punctures could see!

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Me too.

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Specializes in CMSRN, hospice.

I had a coworker, whom I adored, who insisted he put a Metaplex on the patient's sacrum to protect it. I never could find a second one of those if I needed to replace it later...

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I had a coworker, whom I adored, who insisted he put a Metaplex on the patient's sacrum to protect it. I never could find a second one of those if I needed to replace it later...

Sorry, I need some help with this one. I don't get it.

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We had a nurse actually chart that she changed the pick line dressing

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Sorry, I need some help with this one. I don't get it.

My guess would be Mepilex. It's a brand of dressings, including some that are intended to help reduce pressure.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
I say it the way you say it. It's irking when nurses say it wrong but I can forgive the patients.

I actually googled this once. Both pronunciations are acceptable. Something about the derivations of the word allow both.

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