One thing that is nails on chalkboard to me is when I hear my fellow nurses use double negatives and other blatant grammar mistakes. I'm speaking of English as a first language, domestically born and raised people.
I feel as this detracts from the professional image of nursing. We are supposed to be educated professionals. Poor grammar makes nursing look like a blue collar trade to those who are educated, such as our physicians and many members of the public.
Let me clarify that I don't harshly judge the intelligence or moral character of people with poor grammar. But, I feel strongly that nurses should project an image of being educated professionals in our speech and demeanor. Thanks for reading.
I don't like it when people use "et" in their posts instead of "and". We aren't French, we aren't charting, and we aren't being charged by the letter. Just type "and" or use the ampersand - it's not that much more trouble. Weird/unnecessary abbreviations and netspeak are just as irritating and often serve to make the poster appear illiterate.
Ok, so poor grammar under any circumstance makes me cringe. I don't claim to speak perfectly, but obvious mistakes really annoy me. When I met my BF he had horrible grammar and he decided to fix it to make himself a better person. So, two years later all of the double negatives, "I seen" etc. have disappeared. One thing remains that makes me cringe - ending his sentence with "at". This drives me up a wall. In elementary school we were taught that it is improper, but I am starting to question that because it is used so frequently.
So I am wondering if I could have some insight on this. Is it alright to end a sentence with a preposition?
I've heard Churchill quoted as saying: Ending a sentence with a prepostion is something up with which I will not put.
Seriously, I think the contortions some put themselves and their readers through to avoid the sentence-ending preposition is worse than allowing it.
I am not very harsh in my judgments of people when they make a few slips here and there. Most of us make a few mistakes now and then (including me) and I understand that. The same thing with spelling in places like this. The spell-checker here doesn't work for me and I can't catch all my typos.
Similarly, I hate it when students are sloppy with their grammar when writing papers. It tells me that they didn't put much effort into them and I am quick to take points off. If I believe someone really tried to write a good paper, I will be more likely to give them the benefit of any doubts when I grade their work.
Sloppy grammar is equal to sloppy thinking, I believe.
I'm not the best with spelling and grammar but I sure know how to recognize what is right and wrong when I see it. When my son came home from his first day in the 2nd grade I was reading papers the teacher sent home and I wondered if maybe she had one of her 2nd grade students write them for her. It wasn't a simple typo or misspelling, it was things like more worser and I got....it left me wondering what was going on at that school but my son liked the teacher and she was really sweet so I couldn't bring myself to say anything.
My mother, on the other hand, is an English scholar (when she was in college she had a professor who would brag that 2/3 of the class would fail because his grading was so strict but when he graded my mom's term paper when she got it back all it said was Wow!) Anyway, she has a sharp tongue to go with her sharp mind and used to cut me to shreds when it came to schoolwork. I wrote a story in the fourth grade and when I proudly showed it to her by the time she finished with it I wished I hadn't. Made me feel like the biggest loser but it scared me into trying to do better and kind of gave me a complex for a long time.
Speaking of the way people use language, I realized there really was a difference between me and the backwoods hicks even though I speak with a super strong southern twang. I had a friend in school who was dirt poor and lived in the backwoods. When she would talk to me it kind of got on my nerves the way she would refer to "Mama" or "Daddy" when speaking about them instead of saying "my mother" or "my father" and when describing where something was it was "over yonder."
Then again, I say things like "I'm fixin' to" and "gonna."
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
... my mom ... has a sharp tongue to go with her sharp mind and used to cut me to shreds when it came to schoolwork. I wrote a story in the fourth grade and when I proudly showed it to her by the time she finished with it I wished I hadn't. Made me feel like the biggest loser but it scared me into trying to do better and kind of gave me a complex for a long time....
Yep, ya never fergit that sharp tongue - hence, I spoiled the dickens out of my son. Didn't want to hurt his feelings or damage his self-esteem.
Looking back, though, my mom taught me to have high standards and quality work (altho I think I am lazy as all getout, today!). And, I don't think I prepared my son for life as well as I should have. But, he's in basic training now and I'm sure his new "mama" is righting that wrong, HA HA!
I hear ya re your editing job, yep, this is a grammar thread so I know in advance I have made some errors! But (and that is an example, starting a sentence w/ "butt") ... I am half asleep right now, that is the excuse I am going to use for EVERYTHING today... lol
I don't like it when people use "et" in their posts instead of "and". We aren't French, we aren't charting, and we aren't being charged by the letter. Just type "and" or use the ampersand - it's not that much more trouble. Weird/unnecessary abbreviations and netspeak are just as irritating and often serve to make the poster appear illiterate.
Boy you hit that one on the head. It's almost like, look at me, I can write like a nurse, isn't that cute?
I don't even use et when I chart, I find the use of it annoying.
Boy you hit that one on the head. It's almost like, look at me, I can write like a nurse, isn't that cute?
I don't even use et when I chart, I find the use of it annoying.
LOL and other slang is as irritating.
I use "et" all the time et it has nothing to do with wanting people to know that I am a nurse, nor do I do it because I think it is cute. We use it at my facility et it is such a habit. Now if I am writing something important then I will not use it but what is the big deal? What is the difference in using that and people that write MIL, DH, BTW, ect? Just currious.
I vote against 'et'. It's not very widely used, even in nursing. It only saves one stupid letter.
My biggest pet peeve of this type is the internet slang of 'kewl' for 'cool'. That doesn't even save one stupid letter and it's harder to type. It super annoys me.
Specializes in ub-Acute/LTC, Home Health, L&D, Peds.
One thing that is nails on chalkboard to me is when I hear my fellow nurses use double negatives and other blatant grammar mistakes. I'm speaking of English as a first language, domestically born and raised people.
I feel as this detracts from the professional image of nursing. We are supposed to be educated professionals. Poor grammar makes nursing look like a blue collar trade to those who are educated, such as our physicians and many members of the public.
Let me clarify that I don't harshly judge the intelligence or moral character of people with poor grammar. But, I feel strongly that nurses should project an image of being educated professionals in our speech and demeanor. Thanks for reading.
My pet peeve is similar but mine is spelling. I notice incorrect spelling and it drives me bonkers!!:lol_hitti I try to go out of my way to make sure my spelling is correct. Especially with nurses, I think it looks like the requirements for graduating from a nursing program are not very stringent if they are letting nurses who can't spell graduate. In a chart I once read an entry a nurse charted about a wound and she wrote "soar" instead of sore. Another nurse constantly charted coming as "comming" even after being told by the unit manager it was incorrect. Oh and the nurse who charted phleb instead of phlegm. I am sure my grammar isn't the best but hopefully it isn't horrible.;)
I'm not a good speller myself, but my one big, big spelling pet peeve is all the people who use 'loose' for 'lose'. I can't believe how many intelligent people make that mistake!
I'm not a good speller myself, but my one big, big spelling pet peeve is all the people who use 'loose' for 'lose'. I can't believe how many intelligent people make that mistake!
.thumb.jpg.a82aa386979ef686d18b50b041ffdd22.jpg){kind=small}
RN4NICU, LPN, LVN
1,711 Posts
I don't like it when people use "et" in their posts instead of "and". We aren't French, we aren't charting, and we aren't being charged by the letter. Just type "and" or use the ampersand - it's not that much more trouble. Weird/unnecessary abbreviations and netspeak are just as irritating and often serve to make the poster appear illiterate.