BMJ 2002; 325(7373) ( 16 Nov )

Ban a word for Christmas and please an old journal (poll)

In November 2002 we asked readers which words they would like banned. Then we conducted a poll based on their suggestions.

Read the article that started it all

See the results of the poll

Read what others have said

Tell us what you think of the whole exercise



Results of the poll

Count Word
Drug
12  Paternalism
53  Caucasian
11  Put in place
27  Robust
77  Developing [for "poor"] and developed [for "rich"] country
43  North South [for White NonWhite]
11  Community
Rejected [as in "rejected" manuscripts]
26  The A in A & E
51  Modernisation [especially when combined with "agenda"]
42  Gold standard
65  Basically
37  Obviously
17  Ahead of, prior to [meaning "before"]
13  Vaccination [except for immunisation against smallpox]
Retrospective
Suggests
Conclude
14  Patient consented randomised control trial
15  Overuse of definite articles, such as "the"
24  Whiplash
21  Trapped nerve
18  GP practice
51  HIV virus
Inappropriate
54  Stakeholders
Should
14  National Service Frameworks
57  Gay [meaning "homosexual"]
91  Kiddie porn
19  Joyriding
Flashing
19  Parasuicide
173  911 [referring to incidents involving planes in New York and Washington in September 2001]
21  Terrorism
19  Opinion leader
Target
47  Preventative [instead of preventive]
39  Proactive
Alcoholism and alcoholic
43  Wholistic and holistic
37  "White" and "black" in the context of racial choices
27  Weapon of mass destruction
18  Dirty bombs
30  Paradigm
Parameter
28  Resources [meaning "money"]
Christmas
27  Rush [as in "rushed into hospital"]
12  Stress
20  Cure [in the context of medical news]
68  Miracle [in the context of medical news]
43  Breakthrough [in the context of medical news]
15  Promising [in the context of medical news]
19  Dramatic [in the context of medical news]
14  Hope [in the context of medical news]
40  Victim [in the context of medical news]
40  On her break [in answer to the question "Where's the nurse?"]
21  Health care professional
22  Doctor [as in "Doctor will see you now>
13  Mane [especially with an acute accent over the e]
11  Nocte [especially with an acute accent over the e]
Pro tem
24  Quality [especially used as an adjective]
May [as in "may benefit" or "may cause"]
51  Schizophrenic [meaning that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing]
12  Vision
59  Mission statement
31  Sharing [to mean "telling"]
27  Chair [to mean "chairman"]
16  Skill mix
33  Clinical governance
Equal access
Consistent [meaning "lowest common denominator"]
20  Challenges [meaning "problems"]
Variance
10  Iconic
Patient
18  Statistically significant
20  These ones
Incredible
41  At this point in time
In terms of
11  Aggressive treatment
19  Utilisation management
10  Negative [used to describe the results of a study]
22  Regime [when "regimen" is meant]
13  Interesting [for any communication from Oxford]
33  Can't [when "won't" is more honest]
11  Nonmalignant/benign pain
Absolutely
10  Utilise
Deserve [as used in political and medical discourse]
25  Female circumcision
51  Hero [to describe someone who had the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and consequently died]
30  Rape [other than to mean sexual activity forced on a human]
10  Married?
18  Medics
Most adverbs
11  Loved ones
18  Evidence based medicine
31  Politically correct
11  Awesome
10  Actively working on
Problematic
17  Any word or phrase meant to exclude "outsiders"
29  Disempowering
Stable vital signs
19  Impact v [meaning "influence" or "affect"]
24  Roentgenogram
10  Pilot [indicating a health authority hasn't got the money to fully implement a clearly researched development ]
32  Interface v [meaning "to meet"]
31  Dialogue v [meaning "to talk"]
17  Race [when applied to humans]
Accepted, established or best practice
Cardioversion
14  Survival of the fittest
Nightmare
Ban
11  Private [as in "the patient went private"]
21  Whilst [for "while"]
13  Is able to [for "can"]
12  In excess of [for "more than"]
18  Is dependent upon [for "depends on"]
Commonly [for "often]
Additionally [for "and" or "also"]
Overly, excessively [for "too]
10  Pigeon
22  Seamless [except in relation to clothes]
Reform
Care [except by those that do]
23  Cyber anything
23  e-anything
Diagnosis
Task v
10  Hispanic
25  Cases or material [as synonyms for "patients"]
Protocol
Randomised controlled trials
Evidence and its derivatives
Transparency
10  Ideally placed
14  Well [as in "well good"]
10  In my experience
Contemporary
31  Miss [used as a title for women]
42  Surgical precision [when used by the military]
46  Full blown AIDS
Clinician
Stupidity
11  So called
16  Royal [as in Royal College of ]
Routine [to describe appointments or investigations]
10  Attention seeking
Migrate [when used to describe the NHS stumbling into a new activity]
All new words
The elderly/aged
Eclectic
42  Complementary and alternative health products described as "medicine"
97  Clients [to describe "patients"]
13  Refused [as in "the patient refused further surgery"]
28  Failed [as in "the patient failed chemotherapy"]
21  Cute
16  Multidisciplinary
42  Overspent [for "underresourced"]
16  Ill health [for "illness"]
43  Junior [as in "junior doctor"]

View the results of previous bmj.com questionnaires




Student BMJ

Intimate examinations

Israeli students are refusing to perform intimate examinations on anaesthetised women without their informed consent.

www.student.bmj.com

Listen to the latest BMJ Interview