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 med-surg,ortho,oncology,teaching.

My mother says Tydenol for Tylenol and Eptilepsy for Epilepsy. She is now 85 and I have stopped trying to correct her.

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical / Palliative/ Hospice.

Vegetable surgery....That is hilarious!!!!!

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
I once had a pt family member telling me the surgical history and he kept saying that she'd had "the vegetable surgery". I finally figured out his wife had previously had a cabg.

Vegetable surgery....That is hilarious!!!!!

Funny coming from non-medical people. Not so funny but more head-shaking-inducing when the people booking surgical procedures actually type in "cabbage" instead of "CABG".

Although we did have a good laugh over the "peritoneal craniotomy" and where the patient's head must be...

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I had a patient "in 10 out of 10" pain, while calmly eating her lunch and watching t.v. Ask for her "di-la-la" (instead of dilaudid)

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I had a patient that told me she has ortho static HIPPO-tension...

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When I worked home health I had a lady who always asked me to call and get her "X-an-ax" refilled..so now I can hardly call it "zanax" like its pronounced.....I also had another pt who called her Haldol "Hound Dog"...,..lol

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This wasn't a mispronounciation but it was still pretty funny. When I was a student I found a diagnosis of hyperpotassemia instead of hyperkalemia. The kicker was, it had a diagnosis code and everything!!

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Recently, I had a patient who was chewing up his mouthful of pills. His approximately 50 year old daughter yelled "OMG Daddy! You're going to make me BOMICK!"

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This is one mispronounced just as much by staff as patients: Phenergan pronounced as feh-nuh-gren. Irritating.

But I also got to hear 'craniostomy' in place of 'colonoscopy' and THAT one made me LOL for real :) (heads...butts....for some it's all the same!!)

And as long as we're on endo: how about colostoppy, clonostoppy, and colonectomy. Ouch!

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Probably the best I've heard was that of a patient reporting to me that her IV line had become "inflamatrated"!

Well, that's efficient! One word says it all.

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I love it when the little old blue haired ladies tell me it's time for their MAMMIOgram and they need their quumullin (Coumadin) refilled. Also had a patient write on their history form once that they had a history of THROIDS. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what this was until I said it out loud. She meant she had "the 'roids'". Hemorrhoids!!!!!!! LOL

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I work in endoscopy. Had a pt refer to the doc as a "colonologist".

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