"CENTI"meter vs "SONO"meter

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I have no idea why nurses feel the need to pronounce this simple word in such a rediculously affected manner. I was a physics and math major and not until nursing did I EVER hear someone pronounce centimeter as sonometer. It makes me want to hurl!!!

It seems that way, but the political spectrum is much more than just a line from left to right, with everyone's stance taking a clear-cut position on the line. Libertarians can go right, center, OR left.

I could go on and on about the political spectrum, including authoritarian states, anarchists, all the different kinds of liberalism, and the like, but I won't because this is a nursing forum. I am assuming you are a nurse for obvious reasons, and I am not. I study politics, namely international relations, so the discussions on political ideologies are right up my alley. I will stick a lid on it, though.

But yes, you're right about your friend being more left than she was in years past. But a little more to the left does not mean she is in the left.

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

If you want to pronounce it, en francais, say this:

"son (long o) te met ra" with very little emphasis on the a in the last syllable. I actually say it both ways when I'm working. Just depends on how it comes out. Means the same thing.

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:trout: Me too!!!! Uuuuuuugh!!! It makes them sound snooty! It's spelled centimeter and pronouncing it as anything else just makes others go "what is he/she talking about"?

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what an interesting thread - where else but on allnurses could you start out debating the pronunciation of a word and end up with a discussion of libertarian doctrine?

that's why i love you guys....:1luvu

:

p.s. jimmy carter had a pretty funky way of pronouncing "nuclear" as well...and he had a degree in nuclear engineering!

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As a nursing student, my professor pronounced it "sonometer" and I was so confused for several classes. I thought a sonometer was a new metric unit or something. Regardless if it sounds snooty or French, it can be very confusing to newer students and even patients. Only the medical community has ever heard of a "sonometer". Perhaps consider the audience you're using the "sonometer" thing with, if you want to effectively communicate with them.

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Specializes in Day Surgery/Infusion/ED.
mom23RN said:
:trout: Me too!!!! Uuuuuuugh!!! It makes them sound snooty! It's spelled centimeter and pronouncing it as anything else just makes others go "what is he/she talking about"?

Yippee, yet another person who jumps to hurtful conclusions about co-workers based on nothing more than how someone pronounces a word.

There's not an eyeball roll big enough to express how I feel about that.

As an aside, I think the stinky fish animation is getting way overused. I could say that people who use it are unimaginative in expressing themselves, but then I'd be jumping to conclusions about another member.

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How did Carter pronounce "nuclear"?

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OK, I'll admit to looking funny at a co-worker who tells me that the patients chest tube is at 20 'sont-tre-meters' suction... but I blow it off as tomayto/tomahto.

But once they tell me a patient is in with COPD exasperation??????? I lose it. Are you sure it isn't exacerbation?

Yeah, I'm weird.

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Specializes in Day Surgery/Infusion/ED.
sassy7cassy said:
How did Carter pronounce "nuclear"?

The same way Bush does.

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SharkLPN said:
OK, I'll admit to looking funny at a co-worker who tells me that the patients chest tube is at 20 'sont-tre-meters' suction... but I blow it off as tomayto/tomahto.

But once they tell me a patient is in with COPD exasperation??????? I lose it. Are you sure it isn't exacerbation?

Yeah, I'm weird.

No, not weird - there are more than a few threads on allnurses about how people mangle language.

I have a co-worker who says "Alz-timers" and she is a nurse.

As to what Kat said about just changing a vowel in tomato vs. a complete other spelling in nuclear (nucular) . . . the same thing can be said about:

Centi vs. Sono . . .

As to the political stuff, I'm a nurse aka political junkie myself. :clown:

steph

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Steph I hear "alltimers" all the time by nurses.

I learned to say centimeters in my chemistry class in high school (1975 if you don't want to do the math, LOL), when we learned the metric system. After all we say dollars and "cents". So I still say centimeter, not sontameter.

As someone said, you said "I say tomato, your say tomoto".

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Tweety said:
Steph I hear "alltimers" all the time by nurses.

I learned to say centimeters in my chemistry class in high school (1975 if you don't want to do the math, LOL), when we learned the metric system. After all we say dollars and "cents". So I still say centimeter, not sontameter.

As someone said, you said "I say tomato, your say tomoto".

I had chemistry in 1975 too! And my instructor, Fred Null, was the greatest teacher. He also said "cent" and the metric system was just being forced down our throats then. :clown:

What is cool is that when I started nursing school when I was 38, they took that chemistry class as credit and I didn't have to take it in college. :D

steph

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