Sunday, May 29, 2005

Tricks of the Trade + Medical Slang

1. "Tricks of the Trade"
   <http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/how_to/tricks_of_the_trade.php>
"For every occupation, there is a catalog of secrets only its employees are
 aware of - such as how waiters with heavy platters know to look straight
 ahead, and never down. Armed with a bag of reader mail, Matthew Baldwin
 unfurls a whole lot more true insider knowledge"

Examples:
* Butcher: In Australia, the butchers have a secret language called
  'rechtub klat' that they use to gossip about customers without getting
  caught
* Nurse: Patients will occasionally pretend to be unconscious. A surefire
  way to find them out is to pick up their hand, hold it above their face,
  and let go. If they smack themselves, they're most likely unconscious;
  if not, they're faking"

A blog inspired by the article, which collects "tricks of the trade":
   <http://www.tradetricks.org/>


2. "Doctor, doctor, I'm pumpkin positive"  [expired link]
   <http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7031676%5E13762,00.html>
"These and other terms are part of a secret language, indecipherable to
 outsiders, that doctors use with each other to convey a truth that is
 otherwise unsayable, especially to the patient"

Examples:
* "General practitioners may use LOBNH ('Lights On But Nobody Home') or
   the impressively bogus Oligoneuronal to mean someone who is thick"
* "Then there is DBI, for 'Dirtbag Index.' This is a formula which
   multiplies the number of tattoos on the patient's body by the number
   of missing teeth to estimate the total of days he has gone without a
   bath"
* "If a doctor is stumped for what is wrong with his or her patient, they
   may record GOK, for 'God Only Knows'"

Archived at:
   <http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-chat/974932/posts>

"Medical slang"
   <http://www.studentbmj.com/back_issues/0702/education/225.html>
The paper referred to in the article.