Thursday, 31 May 2012
Words and Phrases - an Everyday Story of Pedantic Folk
A friend baffled me the other day by saying she had to have a 'procedure'. Eventually, we worked out that she was going to have what used to be called an operation - or 'op', as in, 'The quack reckons I need an op on my bunions, but I reckon I can struggle on for a year or two more.'
Where did this 'procedure' thing come from? When I hear the word used in the medical context, I immediately assume they're going to tattoo the council by-laws on dog fouling across my lower abdomen (and there's a horrid word, 'abdomen', don't know why I'm using it - this medical jargon is clearly infectious).
Although, speaking of infections, I'm never going to pick up the virally spreading usage that is 'medication' - what the hell is wrong with the perfectly good word I've used all my life, namely 'medicine'. 'A spoonful of sugar helps the medication go down' doesn't have quite the same ring to it, in my opinion - ditto 'Laughter is the best medication'. Ugh, ugh, ugh
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drink= beveridge
ReplyDeleteetcetc
drives me mad
Talking of that, I've always been fond of that mysterious word 'refreshments', which organisations like the Countrywomen's Association and other such offer - tea, cake and refreshments will be available in the church hall et cetera.
DeleteJust another "instantiation" of language creep. Maybe I've used that word "instantiation" incorrectly, but I just heard it yesterday so I haven't practiced it much. (I also like the idea of "creep" as in "academic creep", which has always brought to mind a sleazy professor.)
ReplyDeleteShudder.
DeleteAnother touchy-feely medical term that sets my teeth on edge is 'triage'. Like 'procedure' it's a cloying, euphemistic recent bit of jargon and needs to be explained to the average person.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"Procedure" is I suppose a euphemism. Eventually it will wear thin, as they do, and our successors will ask, "Why do they use that word instead of 'procedure'?"
ReplyDeleteI guess that "medication" has the advantage of an extra syllable, which some always think makes a word sound more important. To my ear it indicates a drug that is taken to control rather than to cure a condition; statins and anti-depressants are medications, antibiotics are medicines. Maybe nobody else thinks of them that way, and I do only because the word and the drugs became current at the same time.
Polly: "Instantiation" is a perfectly good word, which I first encountered in a symbolic logic class in college. The text is on our shelves yet; section 19.3 is given to universal, 19.5 to existential instantiation. If the proposition in question were "there exists x, such that x is oviparous and x is duck-billed and x is a mammal", then brandishing a platypus would amount to existential instantiation. The platypus itself, however, would be an instance.
Bob: The word triage has been around since WW I, hasn't it? I can't think of a simpler word that will do, unless "sorting". Yet "triage" is familiar, even if the emergency rooms don't now sort into three groups.
I'd have thought you could use 'embodiment' in place of 'instantiation'
DeleteI think 'triage' only turned up in Australian hospital A&Es in the early 90s - probably came via your great country, George. Before that, hospitals were better staffed so that you simply got seen within a quite short time.
'Going under the knife' might be a good antidote to 'procedure'
George: David and I got stuck on the "instantiation". He values it. I thought it was just another example of gratuitous syllables. I thought "instance" sufficed, but you have shown me the difference.... and saved our marriage.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to be of service! And any time you're in town, you're welcome to borrow the text.
DeleteFowler's Modern English Usage provides the cure - or do I mean antidote or perhaps solution? - for all these linguistic ills. Browsing it recently I was interested to discover Saxonism< which was a movement to replace all Latinate words with Germanic ones, which would only give us feel better here.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad there are people in the world who still browse Fowler's
DeleteGosh. For some reason [OK, sheer ignorance] I guessed that a triage was some sort of sling or bandage for a broken arm.
ReplyDeleteI had no use for the term 'medications' for most of my life because I rarely was subjected to them. In the past three years the term was/is so universal in our health system that it didn't occur to me there were alternatives.
I have a 'shortcuts' program that automatically expands 'meds' to 'medications' in that section of my blog. Given that it is there a thousand times, I commend your patience in reading it.
I promise to look for alternatives. This should be fun....
"Refreshments" is wonderful - I'd forgotten it. I don't think I've eaten or drunk anything very good under that banner, though.
ReplyDelete