stupid pronunciations

[newyorkcougar]

I am SICK of the silly pronunciations you hear in medical school. Here are a few of the worst:

1) SAHN-tuh-met-er Every native English speaker who says this is faking it. They didn't grow up saying that. One day they thought "I want to sound fancy, so I'll use the French pronunciation." Give me a break.

2) uhm-bill-EYE-kus. eeeeew. It's um-BILL-uh-kus.

3) res-PEYE-ruh-to-ry. It's RESP-ruh-to-ry. See #1 above.

4) TRAUW-muh. It's TRAH-muh.

5) Non-medical, personal bias: being a native speaker of English as it is spoken on American TV and in American movies (and not some random north-eastern dialect), I have a personal beef with "KA-ruh-mel." It sounds silly and akward. It's KAHR-mul.

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[babyruth]

I am SICK of the silly pronunciations you hear in medical school. Here are a few of the worst:

1) SAHN-tuh-met-er Every native English speaker who says this is faking it. They didn't grow up saying that. One day they thought "I want to sound fancy, so I'll use the French pronunciation." Give me a break.

2) uhm-bill-EYE-kus. eeeeew. It's um-BILL-uh-kus.

3) res-PEYE-ruh-to-ry. It's RESP-ruh-to-ry. See #1 above.

4) TRAUW-muh. It's TRAH-muh.

5) Non-medical, personal bias: being a native speaker of English as it is spoken on American TV and in American movies (and not some random north-eastern dialect), I have a personal beef with "KA-ruh-mel." It sounds silly and akward. It's KAHR-mul.

The centimeter thing is used extensively by the path people; gets on nerves. Want to ask them if the say the letter Z, "zee or zede"

 

[Luba Licious]

DOO-OH DEE NUM-it's doo-awd-num

 

[J-Rad]

"new-monic" for mnemonic: Mirriam Webster Pronunciation: ni-'mä-nik

"Path-o-new-monic" for Pathognomonic: Mirriam Webster's and bartleby.com's have audios pronouncing it either path-og-nuh-monic or path-o-g'nuh-monic (admittedly different than my previous path-o-nuh-monic; guess I learned something new).

General English peeves: Forte as "for-tay" is a musical term for "loud"; in its usage for someone's strong suit it's properly pronounced "fort"

And the word "floundering"; no, a flounder is a fish, the word you were trying to use was foundering.

 

[newyorkcougar]

I agree...I totally HATE do-oh-DEEN-um. You're right...it's doo-AW-duh-nuhm.

 

[cyclohexanol]

How about great sa-FEEEEEE-nous vein

 

[Dr JPH]

4) TRAUW-muh. It's TRAH-muh.

Definately a PCOMer

 

[newyorkcougar]

Even though it is technically the correct pronunciation, ay-puh-TOH-sis bugs me. It just sounds better if you say ay-pop-TOH-sis.

 

[Red Beard]

Even though it is technically the correct pronunciation, ay-puh-TOH-sis bugs me. It just sounds better if you say ay-pop-TOH-sis.

That's funny, "a-POP-tosis" bugs the hell out of me.

You don't say "p-terydactyl" or "p-tolemy"...or "p-tosis" for that matter.

To each his own I guess

How about an OMM specific one....one of our profs insists on saying "lumbar prone pressure with counter lev-ROJ."

 

[cyclohexanol]

kinetics - "kai - nat - ics"

 

[jhug]

do you get Ax-own or ka-pill-ary (accent over the i) not cap-illary (accent over the first a)???

 

[cyclohexanol]

do you get Ax-own or ka-pill-ary (accent over the i) not cap-illary (accent over the first a)???

We've had ax-own, not ka-pill-ary though

 

[fraggle]

I dunno. I've always preferred ay-POP-tosis. It sounds more... descriptive.
Today I heard ab-DOM-men.

 

[CatsandCradles]

I am SICK of the silly pronunciations you hear in medical school. Here are a few of the worst:

1) SAHN-tuh-met-er Every native English speaker who says this is faking it. They didn't grow up saying that. One day they thought "I want to sound fancy, so I'll use the French pronunciation." Give me a break.

That's how they say it in England.

We American's are the ones pronunicating it wrong.

 

[MichelleVsMedSt]

JOOOO- gular..... AAAH! Its jug-ular!

 

[LeemerDO]

We have a few here at COMP. NOt sure if it's caught on national though.

ABDuction pronounced AY BEE Duction
ADDuction pronounced AY DEE Duction

It is actually helpful when specifying it over the phone, but then again Bee and Dee can sound alike if not enunciated.

If you've ever listened to Goljan, he has an interesting way of saying metronidazole.

I say it Metro NYE Da ZOle. He says it like Metro Ne Dazzle.

 

[Orthonut]

We have a few here at COMP. NOt sure if it's caught on national though.

ABDuction pronounced AY BEE Duction
ADDuction pronounced AY DEE Duction

It's made its way down here to GND at least (and crossed into the SVM as well)

I say it Metro NYE Da ZOle. He says it like Metro Ne Dazzle.

lol.

One of our newish recovery room techs (that's like...a vet version of PACU nurse) says things like "LAY-ehhrrrr-Nix" and "FAY-ehhhrrrr-Nix" and "sehv-OO-fleran" I just want to grab him and shake him... I mean, it says right on the bottle "SEVO-FLURANE"

I may start saying Metro-Ne-Dazzle though. That's a lot more interesting, especially when someone goes "whatcha doin?" me:"Giving this horse eight million ccs of dilute metro-neigh-dazzle" Just to see what the tech interns faces look like. Cause you know they don't want to admit they might not know about some drug...

 

[GProteinStar]

Nu-kee-lus instead of nu-klee-us........

 

[dcratamt]

Here in the hollers we say vom-uh-king instead of vomiting and that's just the beginning. I love this place.

 

[Tired Pigeon]

Nu-kee-lus instead of nu-klee-us........

This one makes me crazy.

 

[HokieDO2010]

We have a prof here at **** who's turkish and she's REALLY smart, but says cool things like ee-nur-waited (innervated) and my personal favorite is when she says "de turd wuntricull" (third ventricle). OH and another one is tala-MOOS and "eye-poh tal-AH-moose" (thalamus/hypothalamus) SHe's awesome though.

 

[BusterDO]

We have a prof here at **** who's turkish and she's REALLY smart, but says cool things like ee-nur-waited (innervated) and my personal favorite is when she says "de turd wuntricull" (third ventricle). OH and another one is tala-MOOS and "eye-poh tal-AH-moose" (thalamus/hypothalamus) SHe's awesome though.

When your name is "HokieDO2010," why do you try and hide what school you're at? Am I the only one that knows the Hokies are in the area of Virginia tech or "****"?

how about "WHY-rus" (virus)

 

[Onstarr]

awesome thread.

 

[HokieDO2010]

When your name is "HokieDO2010," why do you try and hide what school you're at? Am I the only one that knows the Hokies are in the area of Virginia tech or "****"?

how about "WHY-rus" (virus)

Shiz-n-giggles, and as for why-rus, it was always associated with an "amalope why-rus" (envelope virus). That was a lot of fun to decipher.

 

[Doc Henry]

I hate when people say the name of meds wrong:

1) Toprol (name brand for metoprolol) being caled "Toprolol" ...I know a pharmD who says that
2) My friend pronounces Omeprazole "om-nee-pra-zolee", don't know where she got that???
3) adding an extra "en" to Atenelol "Aten-en-ol"

the list could go on!

 

[Han Bozo]

This one goes to my entire class:

Nonmaleficence: it is NOT non-mal-Feee-sense. It never has been and never will be, it is not an alternate pronunciation.

It is pronounced non-ma-lef-i-cence. Webster will even give you an audio pronunciation.

Please, do it for the kids

 

[Han Bozo]

another that comes to mind...

Esophageal: es-O-phage-eel

No. No, No, No

 

[TheEleventhReel]

Does anyone know how to pronounce the word "rales." Is it pronounced like "rowls" or "rails"?

 

[Sirius Black]

It's "Rahls". I know this because one of our teachers actually corrected me after I said "rails". In fact, this guy even corrected himself once after he accidentally said "centimeters" instead of "sahn-timeters".

 

[cyclohexanol]

Just heard this one today too: Hemor-hay-jik (hemorrhagic)

 

[Kubed]

Two that I'm guilty of thanks to my first biology professor being British: methane pronounced ME-thane and fructose pronounced fruck-tose. I get so much crap from my friends when those come flying out

 

[Dr JPH]

Bio professor in college pronounced "DIGEST" as 'die-just'

"The bird then 'die-justs' the seed..."

 

[thesauce]

DOO-OH DEE NUM-it's doo-awd-num

It used to bother me just as much that everyone says "doo-awd-num." The original pronunciation was "DOO-OH DEE NUM." It was said this way exclusively until enough people mispronounced it that they started accepting "doo-awd-num" as an alternative pronunciation. I heard this from one of our older professors. Check out the link below and click on the sound icon. Both pronunciations are there.

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=duodenum

 

[OMMFan]

It's "Rahls". I know this because one of our teachers actually corrected me after I said "rails".

A pulmonologist told my class that the correct pronunciation is "rahls," but two other doctors told me that "rails" is correct. Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary (2005) directs me to say "ral" w/a line over the 'a,' indicating a long 'a' sound as in "rail." Not to be outdone, Stedman's instructs me to say "rahl."

A few pronunciations that grate on me:

Guillain Barre dz: Gill-ee-an...
oligodendrocytes: oh-glee-oh-dendrocytes
botulinum: botch-u-lin-ium
bronchoconstriction: bronch-ee-oh-constriction
Lyme dz: Lyme's
symptomatology: symptom-ology
pharmacokinetics: pharma-kinetics
dysdiadochokinesia: Kidding! It took all of us a few tries to get this one!

My classmates are generally pretty damned good at pronouncing the most confounding multisyllabic medical terms and we also correct each other when necessary.

 

[drlisa0318]

General English peeves: Forte as "for-tay" is a musical term for "loud"; in its usage for someone's strong suit it's properly pronounced "fort"

And the word "floundering"; no, a flounder is a fish, the word you were trying to use was foundering.

From Meriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
FORTE:
Pronunciation: 'fort; 2 is often 'for-"tA or for-'tA or 'for-tE
Function: noun
Etymology: French fort, from fort, adjective, strong
1 : the part of a sword or foil blade that is between the middle and the hilt and that is the strongest part of the blade
2 : one's strong point
Usage: In "forte" we have a word derived from French that in its "strong point" sense has no entirely satisfactory pronunciation. Usage writers have denigrated \'for-"tA\ and \'for-tE\ because they reflect the influence of the Italian-derived forte. Their recommended pronunciation \'fort\, however, does not exactly reflect French either: the French would write the word le fort and would rhyme it with English for. So you can take your choice, knowing that someone somewhere will dislike whichever variant you choose. All are standard, however. In British English \'fo-"tA\ and \'fot\ predominate; \'for-"tA\ and \for-'tA\ are probably the most frequent pronunciations in American English.

FLOUNDER:
Etymology: probably alteration of founder
Function: intransitive verb
1 : to struggle to move or obtain footing : thrash about wildly
2 : to proceed or act clumsily or ineffectually

 

[almo88]

Let's not forget Bush's favorite--

NUKE-U-LAR! Nucular? Uhmm..what does that mean?

 

[Flyfisher]

What really gets me is "dill-a-tation." um hello di-lation! Its not just mispronunciation but also adding letters!

The other thing that is wrong that everyone says is "myself" or "I" all the time without needing to. Its ok to say "ME" in the right circumtances!

 

[DeLaughterDO]

What really gets me is "dill-a-tation." um hello di-lation! Its not just mispronunciation but also adding letters!

The other thing that is wrong that everyone says is "myself" or "I" all the time without needing to. Its ok to say "ME" in the right circumtances!

No, actually dilatation is a correct form of the word.

from www.dictionary.com:

dil·a·ta·tion /ˌdɪləˈteɪʃən, ˌdaɪlə-/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[dil-uh-tey-shuhn, dahy-luh-]
–noun
1. a dilated formation or part.
2. Pathology. an abnormal enlargement of an aperture or a canal of the body.
3. Surgery.
a. an enlargement made in a body aperture or canal for surgical or medical treatment.
b. a restoration to normal patency of an abnormally small body opening or passageway, as of the anus or esophagus.
4. Mechanics. the increase in volume per unit volume of a homogeneous substance.

cheers,

jd

 

[Taus]

Centimeter...

"sahn"timeter....it seems like around 50% of the profs here say it instead of good old "sent"imeter.....bugs me every time...

 

[Critical Mass]

al'-u-min'-i-um (British way of saying it)

anybody else annoyed the the NRMP outcome booklet spells orthopedic orthopaedic?

 

[klapmasta]

It annoys the hell out of me when someone says "pawst"erior instead of posterior. I think both ways are acceptable (my verification is the anatomy professor in "Gross Anatomy" (matthew modine med school movie) says it pawsterior). But I can't think of other occurrences of post being said pawst besides "postulate." Perhaps for dinner I'll have some posta with marinara? No! Joe Montana to Jerry Rice in the super bowl: "Hey Jerry, run a deep pawst." No! Anybody with me on this?

 

[acrunchyfrog]

To mess with the drug seekers we have in the ED, a nurse I used to work with would tell them the drug they were getting was mixed with a new pain med :"nor-MALSA-leen"
He'd then explain how this new substance would increase receptor sensitivity in the brain...on and on.

It seemed to work...until the seekers started asking for it by name and found out it was just NS.

 

[MSKalltheway]

What gets me is that some of my profs would say "me-DULL-uh" instead of "me-DOOL-ah". Then I hit the pronunciation key on Stedman's electronic dictionary and got "me-DULL-uh" . If only I ruled the world...

Btw, Critical Mass, LOVIN' the avatar

 

[cyclohexanol]

poo-berty

 

[DORoe]

 

[double elle]

Medial/Lateral Malleolus (sp)....had a professor that called it mal-EEE-u-lus instead of mal-eee-O-lus

Was the same thing with areola (sp?)....been a LONG time since I've even looked at these words!...would says ar-EEE-uh-la instead of air-eee-O-la

Since that first time I heard these, I've heard them more often...but still drive me nuts.

I also have a cardiology attending who says "TRO-po-nim" instead of tro-PO-nin" (yes, that's meant to be an 'm' in how he says it.)

The SAHNtometer thing doesn't upset me any more...however, it did -during the first few months of rotations, because I was afraid to ask if it meant the same as centimeter.

 

[smq123]

I've heard 3 different pronounciations of "Pacinian corpuscle":
- Puh-sin-ee-un
- Puh-kin-ee-un
- Puh-chin-ee-un

Is "streptococci" correctly pronounced as "strep-toe-cox-eye" or as "strep-toe-cock-eye"? Because I've heard both.

 

[3108]

.

 

[NurWollen]

I've heard 3 different pronounciations of "Pacinian corpuscle":
- Puh-sin-ee-un
- Puh-kin-ee-un
- Puh-chin-ee-un

Is "streptococci" correctly pronounced as "strep-toe-cox-eye" or as "strep-toe-cock-eye"? Because I've heard both.

Those pronunciations are a result of the different ways of pronouncing Latin. Puh-sin-ee-un is the instinctive way English speakers pronounce it. Puh-kin-ee-un is based on the actual way ncient Romans would have said it (and how scholars of Latin would pronounce it.) Puh-chin-ee-un is based on the Latin pronunciation taught to priests by the Catholic church. Since a lot of scientists back in the day were priests, I imagine that's how it made its way into medicine.

 

[NurWollen]

I grew up with the SAHNometer thing because my mom is an RN and that's how she said it, even in non-medical contexts.

The malleolus one is the one that really bugs me. I don't know why but it does.