Mispronunciations That Drive You Nuts

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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?!

Specializes in NICU.

Smoking sensation instead of smoking cessation. I swear, my professor always said sensation and the whole class would just role their eyes.... She had a PhD.

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Specializes in critical care.
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?

Perhaps this will help.....

Contractions always have an apostrophe. Therefore:

It + is = it's

Possessive pronouns never have an apostrophe. Therefore:

Yours, theirs, its, hers

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Specializes in critical care.
What drives me nuts? People who think it's their god given duty to correct someone when they mispronounce a word. It's rude and they should have been taught better manners by their parents.

We aren't correcting anyone. We're bonding over a pet peeve. He who is without pet peeve may happily cast the first stone. Otherwise, no grammarly-challenged people have been harmed in the making of this thread. We're just being silly.

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"Furnigan" instead of Phenergan.

"MeTROPolol" instead of metoprolol.

"Goblin" instead of globulin.

Not so much a mispronunciation, but I hate it when people say lady parts when they mean vulva.

In school, one of my classmates burst out laughing during class and tried to correct a professor- "you said myocardial INFARCTION...it's INFRACTION, haha!" She was close to tears by the time everyone got done.

There was also a student who would say "say-LEEN" instead of saline. He would also accuse other people of being stupid by saying, "you're totally novus" because he misunderstood the word novice.

Oh, and "dyspeenia" instead of dyspnea.

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I'm the only person I know who uses "INs and OUTs' for I & O. People just look at me funny.

Everyone likes to laugh at my saying "chewing gum" (I'm a southerner living in New York City) instead of just "gum". My explanation is that there's chewing gum and bubble gum, and they're not the same thing. I also get funny looks for saying "co-cola" instead of "coke" and for saying things like "your fellow" instead of "your boyfriend". I've been told that I say loads of things funny because I tend to pronounce all the letters in words. (For example, a New Yorker once laughed at me and said, "you say 'what' like it has an H in it.")

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Specializes in CVOR, CVICU/CTICU, CCRN-CMC-CSC.
ixchel said:
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 will happily give you an Amen!

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Specializes in CVOR, CVICU/CTICU, CCRN-CMC-CSC.

"Advantageous" for "Adventitious" lung sounds. Ronchi and Stridor are far from advantageous!

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Someone tell me the correct pronunciation of "Mellitus".

Is it Mel-it-tus with a short i as in "it" and a short "u" ?

or is it Mee-light-us?

I have heard it said both ways.

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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.

orientating is a word....

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Specializes in CVICU CCRN.

Who wants to enlighten me on phenytoin? I've usually gone with feen-I-toyn on the basis that the prefix is similar to phenobarb...but I'd be lying if I said my brain and tongue didn't do battle every time that one comes around. I've also heard fen-i-toe-in. 😳

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Palpate vs palpitate (Really? You are going to palpitate the abdomen?)

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kalycat said:
Who wants to enlighten me on phenytoin? I've usually gone with feen-I-toyn on the basis that the prefix is similar to phenobarb...but I'd be lying if I said my brain and tongue didn't do battle every time that one comes around. I've also heard fen-I-toe-in.

How to Pronounce Phenytoin (Dilantin) Correctly

I just say Dilantin. ?

How to Pronounce the Top 200 Drugs

Free drug name pronunciations app

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/drug-pronunciations-lite/id315124131

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