Nauseous vs Nauseated (another grammar lesson)

[Emergent]

If you really want to be correct, you will use nauseated, not nauseous, when describing the state of being afflicted with nausea. Nauseous, on the other hand, is really supposed to be used to describe something or someone that causes nausea.

We nurses can do a lot to turn around the deplorable trend amongst the common populace to use these words incorrectly. We deal with nauseated people on a daily basis. We can gently educate the public by being role models for proper usage!

(nauseous-correct usage): The smell of rotten eggs is nauseous.

(nauseated-correct usage): The smell of rotten eggs makes me nauseated.

http://www.grammarerrors.com/word-choice/nauseousnauseated/

[Undone]

Yes, I should have said when they write it, I know many people who pronounce those words like that because of their accent. When they write it out is when you see if they know the difference between them.

[RNMA15]

Interesting topic! I have a foreign accent, and I pronounce "Bird" and "Bed" much the same way:rolleyes:… However, I can't get over native English speakers who say, e.g. " I could have went back to school.." And this is very common both in the US and Canada! :) Sometimes people just get used to the common way and don't think much about it, but its very noticeable when you are new to the area..

[fawnmarie, ASN]

Supervisors and charge nurses in my facility are always sending e-mails that contain grammatical errors. This is extremely annoying. When a nurse with a master's degree states, "The patient don't feel good today" rather than the correct "The patient doesn't feel good today," I seethe. I have also recently heard a nurse manager state, "Tell the patient that ain't our policy no more" when questioned about a practice that has been discontinued. I would be so utterly embarrassed if my grammar was incorrect! That reflects poorly on any individual, especially nurses in supervisory roles with advanced degrees.

[MunoRN, RN]

I'm all for linguistic proselytizing, but the established definition of "nauseous" includes both affected with nausea as well as to cause nausea. This is the definition used by Oxford, American Heritage, and Webster's dictionaries. There are certainly some linguists who offer dissenting opinions, but it's not incorrect to use either meaning if you consider the major dictionaries to be how we define correct word meanings.

You could also argue that a paradox exists here that makes it impossible to use the word incorrectly. If you believe strongly that the word nauseous can only be used to refer to something that causes nausea and someone uses "nauseous" to convey that they feel nauseated, then that to some degree will probably make you feel nauseated, which means the person is correct in referring to themselves as nauseous regardless of how you define the word.

[nursel56]

If you really want to be correct, you will use nauseated, not nauseous, when describing the state of being afflicted with nausea. Nauseous, on the other hand, is really supposed to be used to describe something or someone that causes nausea.

Haha I love this! One of my most vivid memories from decades ago was when an instructor "Miss R------", made a special point of telling us that "nauseous" pronounced "noshus" was how her New Jersey family members talked..which she demonstrated with an exaggerated accent, rolled her eyes and told us "don't do that!" It's nauseated!

Never forgot it, either. :)

[Emergent, RN]

Supervisors and charge nurses in my facility are always sending e-mails that contain grammatical errors. This is extremely annoying. When a nurse with a master's degree states, "The patient don't feel good today" rather than the correct "The patient doesn't feel good today," I seethe. I have also recently heard a nurse manager state, "Tell the patient that ain't our policy no more" when

questioned about a practice that has been discontinued. I would be so utterly embarrassed if my grammar was incorrect! That reflects poorly on any individual, especially nurses in supervisory roles with advanced degrees.

Actually, when referring to a person's state of health, one should say "The patient doesn't feel well today" :)

[fetch, BSN, RN]

I used to be a total grammar police type person . . . and then I got over myself and embraced the natural changes of language. There's always hand-wringing and pearl-clutching about the destruction of the language, all the way back past when Shakespeare added to our lexicon. All these words were "made up" or "not used properly" at the time, and now they're common. As long as the intended meaning is conveyed, any other deviation is just the evolution of language - and that is, after all, how words and their meanings get added or changed to dictionaries. By how they are commonly used.

How does a word get into a Merriam-Webster dictionary?

This is one of the questions Merriam-Webster editors are most often asked.

The answer is simple: usage.

(source)

Dictionaries are now based on the close analysis of how words behave in real, natural language: behind every Oxford Dictionary entry are genuine examples of the word in use - often hundreds and thousands of them - which have been analysed by lexicographers using specially developed software so as to find out information about the typical behaviour of the word in question.

(source)

That said . . . it will be a cold day in Hades before I embrace "utilized" when a simple "used" can do. Something about that word just grates on my nerves.

[loveoutloud]

This.

[loveoutloud]

Oops that's was supposed to be a response to the comment listing "alert and orientated" as a pet peeve. One of mine is when people say "exact same". It's redundant to use "exact".

[T-Bird78]

And what about impacted bowels?

That would be a noun--if they're impacted they're certainly not moving!

[T-Bird78]

Oops that's was supposed to be a response to the comment listing "alert and orientated" as a pet peeve. One of mine is when people say "exact same". It's redundant to use "exact".

Pt can be alert but not oriented. They can be wide awake and coherent but not know person, place, or time. There is a difference between alert and oriented. I think the post was referring to people saying "orientTATED" instead of "oriented" and putting an extra syllable in it.

[SubSippi]

In contrast to most posters on this thread, I sort of like the idea that language (and then grammar, by default) is constantly evolving.

The more time I spend living in rural America, the worse my grammar gets. The way I type my thoughts here on AN and the way I speak sound nothing alike. When I talk, I sound like a total hick.

And I will never be able to remember when to use "lay" vs "lie." I always chart, "Pt laying in bed resting quietly," which is wrong, according to that comic strip. And I finally thought I had figured it out!!