Nauseous vs Nauseated (another grammar lesson)

Nurses General Nursing

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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/

Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

The definitive grammar guide...

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
Grammar police member here. One that makes my teeth grind -

If a noun ends in the letter 'S', in order to show possession, the apostrophe only is used as in "Louis' book ...". NOT APOSTROPHE 'S'. Louis's book is a NO-NO.

An exception is the word 'it'. In order to show possession, the word is 'its'. No apostrophe. The word, 'it's' , is a contraction shortening to mean 'it is'. The apostrophe is used here.

I've actually remember seeing it both ways is high school English books. Louis' and Louis's :nailbiting:

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
​Spend a couple of shifts on a psych unit and it will be drilled into your memory.

That is one of my favorite words! One of the best ED dictations I have seen "Pt keeps perseverating about her kidney dysfunction, which, per her lab work, does not exist."

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
ummmm.......dilation......dilatation! runaway.gif

Another one…diluent versus "dilutent" (ugh). Usually spoken rather than written.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
Grammar police member here. One that makes my teeth grind -

If a noun ends in the letter 'S', in order to show possession, the apostrophe only is used as in "Louis' book ...". NOT APOSTROPHE 'S'. Louis's book is a NO-NO.

An exception is the word 'it'. In order to show possession, the word is 'its'. No apostrophe. The word, 'it's' , is a contraction shortening to mean 'it is'. The apostrophe is used here.

Only of the "s" is silent. If you're referring to a book owned by Mr. Adams, for instance, the correct way to write that is Mr. Adams's book, not Mr. Adams' book.

Source vary, but according to the source that nurses are typically required to follow in academic settings, APA format, the correct way is to add another "s" after the apostrophe.

APA Style Blog: Forming Possessives With Singular Names

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.
"Are pot roast" :down: oh, that's awful......and those random signs in grocery stores....."Potato's $1.99" "Apple's 2/$1.00" "Banana's 49 cents/pound " WHY ??

I once saw a sign in a store: " Gift's for Mom!!" AGAIN, WHY ??

You would have loved the florist's sign that I saw a few years ago... "Rose bookays $12.99" Lmao I thought it was a joke but it stayed up for quite a while lol.

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.
One of the funnier words I've seen a nurse misuse is "growing" instead of "groin". I told her the patient had a groin incision, when I looked at her paper, she had written "growing incision". This happened a time or two before I finally corrected her.

To more current issues, has anyone been seeing people use the word "eboli" instead of ebola?

I have seen and heard Eboli, and noticed that people seem to think it us a plural form of Ebola, I.e. "Those Eboli patients" lol

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As a nurse that probably is not using proper grammar at all times please forgive me.... I interact with patient who relay information to me.... I am then expected to translate this to pertinent information to pass on to a practitioner who can give orders. I might not have had a break, or maybe I have to use the restroom. So as I am typing everything a patient states please forgive the fact I leave: Patient states "I am nauseous". I think we all know what the patient means..

Actually, when you use quote to you are simply conveying what the pt said, so the grammar or usage is irrelevant. So, when I document "There ain't no way I am taking that ****ing medication", I know he means " There is no way I am taking that ****ing medication". But, since it is a quote, I document what was said, rather than what was meant. And I don't use ****, because it could stand for work, or any other 4 letter word.

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It's not at all incorrect, yet it grates on my nerves for some reason when people say "I've got to.." Why not just say "I have to" instead of throwing an extra word and a contraction in there!

actually, i believe that it is incorrect. you would not say "I have got to" would you?

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I've actually remember seeing it both ways is high school English books. Louis' and Louis's :nailbiting:

oops, need sleep.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

so funny to know I am not the only one who gets unnerved by all this improper use of the language. There was actually an article about this in the paper today, citing these mis-uses are "eggcorn" (vs. acorn). The author gave many instances of how we all goof up our language, like "weigh stations" for truckers which many spell as "way stations". While this is entertaining I must admit I make many such errors. So in the spirit of the season I will share the words of a sign I bought for a friend who likes Halloween.

Witches parking only. All others will be toad.

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nau-seous adjective \ˈnȯ-shəs, ˈnȯ-zē-əs\

: feeling like you are about to vomit

: causing you to feel like you are going to vomit

: causing disgust

Full Definition of NAUSEOUS

1: causing nausea or disgust : nauseating

2: affected with nausea or disgust

-- nau-seous-ly adverb

-- nau-seous-ness noun

Usage Discussion of NAUSEOUS

Those who insist that nauseous can properly be used only in sense 1 and that in sense 2 it is an error for nauseated are mistaken. Current evidence shows these facts: nauseous is most frequently used to mean physically affected with nausea, usually after a linking verb such as feel or become; figurative use is quite a bit less frequent. Use of nauseous in sense 1 is much more often figurative than literal, and this use appears to be losing ground to nauseating. Nauseated is used more widely than nauseous in sense 2.

Examples of NAUSEOUS

The smell of gasoline makes me nauseous.

I began to feel nauseous.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nauseous

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