"Fixin' to die"

Conqueror+, BSN, RN · Dec 23, 2016

My advice to you is don't move to the south. We speak like this. And I'd say most of us are intelligent. I don't chart the way I talk. I have presented to the ED saying "I feel like I'm fixing to die". It doesn't make me a hick or unintelligent. It just means that I am from the south.
So she said it in an interview. I highly doubt she wrote it in her chart

Um, what is wrong with being a hick ? I take exception to that generalization. I'm fixin to post about it on Facebook.

Editorial Team / Admin · Dec 23, 2016

It's so funny that the majority of you disagree.The members of this board have slammed posters for spelling and grammar to the point that they left.And to call me names because I hold a differing opinion just proves your own ignorance.

There's a difference between spelling and grammar errors and local dialect. I also fail to see any posts calling you names.

Fire_Girl · Dec 23, 2016

I did read the story,I also know that terms such as "fixin' to die" "circling the drain" etc.I also know it is "regional".My point is it makes her sound ignorant.We nurses continue to strive to be recognized as professionals.I would th ok no anyone with even a minimum of education would put their best foot forward during an interview and use proper English.I guess it's my issue.

THis comment makes you sound intolerant and prejudiced. People have different lingusitic characteristics depending on where they live. Because something is southern or spoken by mostly poor or minority communities, it doesn't mean the thinking behind the comment is ignorant. YOU are ignorant for not understanding that language is just a symbolic expression of underlying thought. All of our thoughts are the same, our language we use to express that thought may be different and just because it isnt generally accepted by northern, white anglo saxon, English speakers, doesn't make it ignorant. Tuck your prejudice back in, its showing.

Fire_Girl · Dec 23, 2016

There's a difference between spelling and grammar errors and local dialect. I also fail to see any posts calling you names.

I may make a few posts like that, I am incensed at this point reading this thread.

Fire_Girl · Dec 23, 2016

Let's talk about " cultural awareness".It is a regional colloqialism. No place for it in this context in my opinion.Thanks for yours,no need to call me names.

I was very angry reading this. I'm just going to suffice saying that.

SmilingBluEyes · Dec 23, 2016

The folks in Oklahoma who said it were regional and FAR from unintelligent or ignorant. I was from the north and never gave it a thought. Sheesh people.

gettingbsn2msn, MSN, RN · Dec 23, 2016

Totally regional here. In rural Georgia many speak like this. I am in metro Atlanta now but it is mostly northern transplants (like me) and we do not talk like that.

ItsThatJenGirl, CNA · Dec 23, 2016

I do wish that when an RN is interviewed by a news outlet, he/she would attempt to speak in a polished and professional manner. Don't use slang. Don't give God all the credit. That boy lived because you were highly educated, competent, and professional.
I admit I felt the same as the OP when I read the article: 'this is why people think nurses are dumb' 'this will hurt the professional image that we're trying to portray'
I understand that 'fixin to' is perfectly normal verbage in parts of this fine nation. I don't think someone is dumb for using regional dialect.
I think it's dumb to give an interview to a news outlet using regional dialect, especially when you are being identified as an RN.

Regional dialect = how people speak. It's not something you turn on and off for different audiences.

Perhaps if I'm ever interviewed, I'll speak with a British accent so as not to embarrass my fellows.

Farawyn · Dec 23, 2016

I'm fixin' to like all of your posts.

Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN · Dec 23, 2016

I did read the story,I also know that terms such as "fixin' to die" "circling the drain" etc.I also know it is "regional".My point is it makes her sound ignorant.We nurses continue to strive to be recognized as professionals.I would th ok no anyone with even a minimum of education would put their best foot forward during an interview and use proper English.

If you're hoping for nurses to be recognized as professionals, how about not denigrating one of your quick-witted, critical-thinking colleagues for using a (perfectly understandable, regional) turn of phrase while recounting how she diagnosed a child's life-threatening condition on her own and saved him. You might as well criticize her crisp white cap for being askew while she called EMS. Heavens.

I guess it's my issue.

Yes.

OrganizedChaos, LVN · Dec 23, 2016

It's so funny that the majority of you disagree.The members of this board have slammed posters for spelling and grammar to the point that they left.And to call me names because I hold a differing opinion just proves your own ignorance.
I stand by my opinion.I would not say to a family member "your dad is circling the drain" or " fixin'to die".I would not report it to a physician,I would not use it publicly especially during an interview.
Let's talk about " cultural awareness".It is a regional colloqialism. No place for it in this context in my opinion.Thanks for yours,no need to call me names.

If you're going to tear people apart, at least have proper grammar, punctuation & syntax. I believe it looks tacky & unintelligent to be posting about how one nurse spoke to a news outlet but you can't put a proper sentence together. Kinda hypocritical, don't you think?

emmy27 · Dec 23, 2016

The irony of complaining about the public perception of a colleague's professionalism in using an extremely common colloquialism in an interview explaining to laypeople what happened (do you think the audience would have understood what she was saying if she said "I took one look at the child and immediately noticed he was rapidly decompensating- his prognosis seemed grim"?) while using almost incoherently poor spelling, grammar, and punctuation, is... profound.