Mispronunciations That Drive You Nuts

QuiltDog · Mar 22, 2015

ixchel said:

Wow! I can't believe it's so common and I hadn't heard of it before. Unless maybe I'm just living under a rock? I've been known to do that from time to time.

Obviously you have not watched "Monsters inside Me"! Awesome show about all sorts of weird infestations and infections. Really brings back my Microbiology days

Red Kryptonite · Mar 22, 2015

Anna S, RN said:

Makes my back teeth hurt when nurses chart "easily aroused"...oh, really?
How about "easily roused" instead?

Arouse vs. rouse - Grammarist

I've often wondered about that when I saw it in the charting.....and wondered if it shouldn't be said differently because of the potential for misinterpretation. Kind of like how one does not use the adjective form of the word "pus" but "purulent" instead.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Mar 22, 2015

I've often wondered about that when I saw it in the charting.....and wondered if it shouldn't be said differently because of the potential for misinterpretation. Kind of like how one does not use the adjective form of the word "pus" but "purulent" instead.

One of the foreign nurses I worked with once charted that a (male) resident had "foul pusy drainage". But she added an extra 's'.I thought that was pretty funny.

Canucker2014 · Mar 22, 2015

I once had a boss who pronounced 'vise versa' as 'vicee versee'.....laughed everytime

RNHospice · Mar 22, 2015

Orientated x 3, I had a coworker that always said this. I only repeated it back to her once and she said yes, Orientated.

OK, fine

allnurses Guide · Mar 22, 2015

RNHospice said:

Orientated x 3, I had a coworker that always said this. I only repeated it back to her once and she said yes, Orientated.
OK, fine

It is a long-standing controversy on AN and elsewhere.

I prefer oriented vs. orientated.

But either one can be correct. Orientated grates on my ears though.

Red Kryptonite · Mar 22, 2015

Quote

It is a long-standing controversy on AN

Now is that can-TRAH-ver-see (British style) or CON-tro-ver-see (American style)?

Sorry.....I couldn't restrain my inner Anglophile.

allnurses Guide · Mar 22, 2015

Red Kryptonite said:

Now is that can-TRAH-ver-see (British style) or CON-tro-ver-see (American style)?
Sorry.....I couldn't restrain my inner Anglophile.

Ya know . . . I say it "British style". Never thought about that. But sometimes I say it "American style".

ShelbyaStar · Mar 22, 2015

I used to be a big grammar nazi, but realized it's just something some people really struggle with, like how I struggle with math. Plus, it's difficult to have perfect grammar- while spelling comes easily to me, I'm sure someone with more knowledge could cut me apart for comma splices and things like that.

I am a big reader and have a number of words that I picture in my head, can easily spell, but am not confident about saying. My clinical group and instructor laughed their butts off at me one day when I tried to say gynecologist- I always want to make a j sound, then can't decide if I want to say gin (because people say ob/gyn, after all) or jyne, then it sounds like vaginocologist. I finally have the hang of it though!

I grew up in OR but my mother was raised in OH. Back in OR I was made fun of for saying yahoo like yeah-hoo and told it should be yaw-hoo. I told my Minnesotan husband this just yesterday and he says it the same way I do, so it must be a midwestern thing.

Also never sure how to say behemoth or a number of other things. I am more of a reader than a talker! I know big words and how to spell them, just not how to say them...

T-Bird78 · Mar 22, 2015

My biggest one, and most frequent, is Zyrtec pronounced zir-teks. There is no "S" on the end of Zyrtec so quit putting one there!!! A classmate had a preceptor that said deltroid instead of deltoid, and was documenting an IM in the left del. Classmate was pleased that preceptor spelled it correctly, but then preceptor went back and added the "r" to make it right. Non-medical--my MIL says "warsh" instead of "wash" and I hate the misuse of their/there/they're, your/you're, to/too/two (and I have a friend on Facebook who deliberately uses too every time because she thinks it's cute), and its/it's. I'm also a fan of the Oxford comma.

No Stars In My Eyes · Mar 23, 2015

So, ROUTE. Do you say Root or Rowt?

I find it is definitely a regional thing.

I'm originally from Northeastern Mass, and always heard it said as 'root'.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Mar 23, 2015

So, ROUTE. Do you say Root or Rowt?
I find it is definitely a regional thing.
I'm originally from Northeastern Mass, and always heard it said as 'root'.

Definitely Rowt in my neck of the woods.