Mispronunciations That Drive You Nuts

Updated:   Published

Car-dee-ya-zem.

It's car-di-zem. Or dil-ti-ya-zem.

Cardiazem isn't a real thing.

Can I get an amen?!

I had a teacher back when I got my CNA certification that called a B/P cuff a syphgnomamometer, lol

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
me' to pro lol

In my neck of the woods, it's meh-TOPE-ro-lol

Specializes in Pedi.
I've only had it called that once when taking health history and I did a double take. I was still a student and wondered if I had totally missed the part where there was another kind of diabetes. 😂 Is this a regional thing? I'm mid Atlantic, and it's generally not called that here.

Some Endocrinologists- when trying to explain things very simply- will call diabetes mellitus "sugar diabetes" to differentiate it from diabetes insipidus- "water diabetes." Most people assume that you are talking about diabetes mellitus when you say "diabetes" but to someone newly diagnosed with DI who had never heard of it before, this distinction/simplification may be helpful.

As I understand it, the word diabetes itself actually comes from a Greek word that means "to pass through" and refers to the large volumes of urine produced in each condition. Mellitus means sweet urine or something like that (because of the presence of glucose in the urine of those with DM) and insipidus means without taste/not sweet (no glucose present in the urine of those with DI).

Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

When people use literally wrong it drives me figuratively insane.

Specializes in Public Health, Pediatrics, Newborn.

What is the correct pronunciation of Diflucan?

When I hear people say die-FLOO'-can, it drives me nuts, but i say it like "DIE'-flucan".

"prostrate" instead of Prostate irritates me

See this one every day- "I don't want to loose my license" "I need to loose weight" Instead of lose!

Job ads that say say "RN's needed"- That's possessive! No apostrophe needed!

On ebay, I often see "sequence" for "sequins" in the clothing for sale section.

I am confused myself, though, about the use of it's, its, and its'.

Who wants to 'splain it to me?

Specializes in Nephrology, Dialysis, Plasmapheresis.

Who are you ORIEN-TA-TING with today? Really??

How long did my patient DI-AL-Y-SIZE? How long did they dialyze you mean?

She is currently being DI-AL-Y-SIZED. Oy.

I am confused myself, though, about the use of it's, its, and its'.
It's is a contraction.

it's = it is

It's going to rain today. = It is going to rain today.

Its is not a contraction; it is a possessive.

The dog is chasing its tail.

Specializes in psychiatric.

Nope, it's not a lisp, it's a bad habit and many people in my neck of the woods have it.

Honestly, grammar and spelling bug me more. I'll never understand why some find using "there", "their" and "they're" so difficult. It's really not that hard.
...

Oh... did I just see "their" and "there"? I often encounter these two but not a big deal to me. can't blame them.

Total parental nutrition.

Oh....I remember one term....

"X-tray"

+ Join the Discussion