I love watching medical shows on TV. Love the drama, love the lingo. Medical shows are great for using language that the rest of us don't use in our everyday lives. "He's crashing! Get the blue team in here --STAT!" I wonder if doctors used the same terms away from work: "John--the Girl Scouts are here with the cookies! Bring my checkbook--STAT!" I had a friend years ago who was a nurse, and peeking at her grocery list I was confused when I saw "nacl" on the paper. She explained that she needed salt (sodium chloride), and that was how she wrote it at work, so....
In my own day-to-day, I find that 15 years of using radios to talk back and forth with people has influenced my speech and conversations. When did I stop saying "just a minute" and start using "stand by" all the time? My friends look at me a little quizzically when I don't say "never mind," but throw out "disregard" instead. And where Mom would tell you not to say "uh-huh" in place of a clear "yes," from me you're likely to get "copy that" after being given a direction or a response to a question. And for a new way to say "what?"-- well, never use one word when five will do.
Come on--I know I'm not alone here. Law Enforcement has their "10 code." IT people certainly have a language all their own. And let's not even start with acronyms--the parent to text messaging and e-mail abbreviations. Have you found yourself peppering your conversations with "work" language? Confusing your friends and family? Maybe we could start a dictionary or translation guide for the "lingo challenged." Someone should--STAT!
Comments
Look it up in Google- STAT!
This reminds me of that text messaging commercial with the mother and the little girl...the little girl is speaking in all acronyms and the mother was translating everything she was saying!
Personally, I have a rinky dink phone (that works half the time) and I absolutely loathe texting on it. Much easier on a Sidekick or a PDA.
Must replace phone - STAT!
I pick up the jargon from my son-in-law when we are around. He uses the cell-phone walkie talkies all the time so he is always "stand by" - "roger that" - etc.
One of my favorite commercials is the Cingular with the pre-teen and Mom having a "conversation" in text language.
wu
omg nbd
idk my bff jill?
Ah, see! Great minds think alike!
Then again, my mind is fried. I'm working an early AM shift when I'm used to closing down shop.... *YAWN*
Jedi Blog Master
The res agents will appreciate this... as a result of my 9 month stint working at a travel agency call center, I still use "NN" for "need" when writing notes to myself.
Mary,
This is a wonderful blog and it rings so true! Someone told me once that they spent so much time "IMing" (instant messenging) online that now, even when face to face with a friend, they tilt their head sideways so they can smile :-) ! Ouch -- call the chirporactor, STAT!!
Personally, I've been involved (as a civilian) with various police departments in Texas for about 35 years now, and I can assure you that our men and women in blue really DO have their own lingo. However, it is not necessarily the verbage you hear on cop TV shows. I've never known an officer to say either "perp" or "vic". However, they do abbreviate a complainant (the person who 'complains' or makes a request for police service) as a "comp", and it does not mean the same thing it means in a casino in Las Vegas! (or as many of the SWA flight info screens in airport terminals call it, "LA$ VEGA$")
You can also ask our friend Francisco (USS Blog Boy) about military jargon. While their discussions are filled with acronyms as you've mentioned, they also have their own unique way of talking about their livelihoods. Anyone outside the military would probably never quite understand when someone is talking about their "bird colonel", and there are many more phrases that cannot be printed here on a family blog.
Even folks like Captain Ray and his peers use a foreign language in the cockpit, and where you and I might give directions by saying "take I-70 to Natural Bridge Road and go under the freeway to get to the airport", they might be told to approach Lambert via CREEP to KELLY to JIGSY to TWILA, all of which are names of different navigation points to the east of St. Louis.
And, if you have any Air Force buddies, ask 'em what it means if one of their pilots says "Sierra Hotel". Just don't ask in front of your Mother.
Kim
External Blog Boy :)
Great post Mary!
Back pre-SWA I worked in a physical therapy clinic, and learned not only lots of great jargon (medial/lateral, dorsal/ventral, distal/proximal, etc), but some great shorthand that I still use--R in a circle for right, L circled for left, c for with, s for without, p for post, fx for fracture, and so on. It's no wonder my wife can't read my writing.
Of course, SWA has its own special shorthand. You just gotta love reading a sentence like "Org A/C N123 mx dly fwd lav, etr 1320, xcl F211, swap" and knowing exactly what it means....
Phil,
If I can decipher what you've written, I think that it says a plane is "down" for maintenance so that they can clear up a clogged bathroom in the front of the cabin because someone tried to flush an entire package of candy corn. Is that pretty close?
Kim :)
External Blog Boy
Quoting Phil Willman:
"Org A/C N123 mx dly fwd lav, etr 1320, xcl F211, swap"
Let's see if I can guess it:
The original aircraft for a flight, tail #123, took a mechanical because of a problem with the forward lavatory, it should be fixed at 1:30 PM for flight 211 as an aircraft swap.
External Blog Boy,
You have it all wrong because no one in their right mind would try to get rid of a package of candy corn.
Blog Boy
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