Linguistic Pet Peeves

[Jedrnurse]

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?

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

YOU started a thread on peeves, got a response and now you act like a jerk about it? Nice...

...used casually to illustrate that linguistic pet peeves do not have to mean one writes like a stick is stuck up one's buttocks. Is your post meant to provide EBP support for the adjective in your user name?

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

We always said "exudate" in dentistry =)

I was thinking about this thread, and no joke, I once saw in a progress note a dr wrote that a wound had puss...so he added a y to the word puss LOL. And the thing is, back then, I was stumped too...I didn't know the word purulent. double whammy.

[WinterLilac]

The things I don't get annoyed at and often find highly amusing are malapropisms.

A fellow student once said "I don't ride motorbikes but I like to go papillion on my husbands".

Recently my colleague asked one of the staff "Do you know how to use a first aid extinguisher?"

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

"Could care less."

That has always bugged me as well and even when I explain why, people don't get it.

I always pronounce the T in all of those words

I say the T in often ... otherwise it would be offen, right? But not in the other words mentioned.

And orientate has one meaning (a verb and positional: face east or west) and oriented has another (adjective and interested in a particular thing or activity such as learning about a new job) - both legitimate words with different meanings. Although with time, and usage, word definitions change.

When I started in nursing, that's where I heard "orientated" for learning a new job and "sont-a-meter" for centimeter from the same folks who said "supposably" and "irregardless" and many of the words mentioned here . . . Fingernails on chalkboard.

[Emergent, RN]

We have one doc in our ER, my favorite actually, who is always writing medical abbreviations in his DC instructions. Like, "take all your abx as prescribed", as an example. So, I'll write in the translation for the pt, lol.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

I only recently learned the difference. I think most people think they're interchangeable.

For me:

The worst for me is when a nurse doesn't take the time to learn the proper pronunciation of meds. Metoprol, Alprazam, etc. Any number of variations on metoclopramide or metronidazole. Not only irritating but potentially dangerous. I don't even care if you stress the wrong syllable, but don't change syllables or leave them out entirely!

Defiantly instead of definitely.

"Hopefully". It means "in a hopeful manner". If you say "hopefully it rains tomorrow", you're saying "It WILL rain tomorrow, and it will rain in a hopeful manner". Unfortunately, the dictionary has added "I hope" as an acceptable definition, so I have to let this one go - but darn it, it's just not right! :)

I've certainly taken the time and given the effort. I just cannot say Bupropion. It comes out Buproprion every time. Now I just say Wellbutrin

[LynM75]

I have seen, in several places, the use of the word "prolly" for probably and it drives me nutty.

[canigraduate]

Mixing up itch and scratch drives me nuts.

Itch is a sensation, scratch is an action, therefore you scratch what itches. You don't itch a scratch.

**screeeeeeeee** Nails on chalkboard, every time!! **screeeeeeee*

[GM2RN]

I agree with most of these and would add affect vs effect. I also pointed out to a nurse one time that she always wrote, "resumed care of patient" when she actually meant "assumed care of patient."

Not related to nursing, but also annoying is to hear someone say "sherbert" when it's actually "sherbet."

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

*Phenergran

*Unthaw: I hear so many people say that when they get home, they've got to pull something out of the freezer to unthaw it for dinner. Really?? Dinner isn't going to happen tonight, then, is it?

[Sage611]

I

I agree with most of these and would add affect vs effect. I also pointed out to a nurse one time that she always wrote, "resumed care of patient" when she actually meant "assumed care of patient."

Not related to nursing, but also annoying is to hear someone say "sherbert" when it's actually "sherbet."

"Sherbert" always bugged me too, sounded like "sure, Bert." It always made me think of Sesame Street.

[logank622]

I've certainly taken the time and given the effort. I just cannot say Bupropion. It comes out Buproprion every time. Now I just say Wellbutrin

I know sometimes people just have a block on certain words. My brother always pronounced coconut as "conoconut". For years. I still don't know if he can say it properly. :)

But you at least recognize that you're not saying it correctly. I worked with one woman who had been a nurse for 30+ years and she told me during report that she had given a patient her PRN loratadine. She even mentioned it a couple times. When I checked the MAR - lorazepam, not loratadine. After 30 years, she probably could have picked up on that one.