Jump to: Page Content, Site Navigation, Site Search,
You are seeing this message because your web browser does not support basic web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.
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
Count Word 8 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 8 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] 1 Retrospective 6 Suggests 3 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 7 Inappropriate 54 Stakeholders 7 Should 14 National Service Frameworks 57 Gay [meaning "homosexual"] 91 Kiddie porn 19 Joyriding 9 Flashing 19 Parasuicide 173 911 [referring to incidents involving planes in New York and Washington in September 2001] 21 Terrorism 19 Opinion leader 3 Target 47 Preventative [instead of preventive] 39 Proactive 6 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 6 Parameter 28 Resources [meaning "money"] 8 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] 5 Pro tem 24 Quality [especially used as an adjective] 9 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 4 Equal access 6 Consistent [meaning "lowest common denominator"] 20 Challenges [meaning "problems"] 2 Variance 10 Iconic 9 Patient 18 Statistically significant 20 These ones 4 Incredible 41 At this point in time 6 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 7 Absolutely 10 Utilise 5 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 5 Most adverbs 11 Loved ones 18 Evidence based medicine 31 Politically correct 11 Awesome 10 Actively working on 6 Problematic 17 Any word or phrase meant to exclude "outsiders" 29 Disempowering 5 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] 6 Accepted, established or best practice 2 Cardioversion 14 Survival of the fittest 3 Nightmare 7 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"] 7 Commonly [for "often] 9 Additionally [for "and" or "also"] 9 Overly, excessively [for "too] 10 Pigeon 22 Seamless [except in relation to clothes] 6 Reform 8 Care [except by those that do] 23 Cyber anything 23 e-anything 2 Diagnosis 2 Task v 10 Hispanic 25 Cases or material [as synonyms for "patients"] 4 Protocol 3 Randomised controlled trials 5 Evidence and its derivatives 5 Transparency 10 Ideally placed 14 Well [as in "well good"] 10 In my experience 1 Contemporary 31 Miss [used as a title for women] 42 Surgical precision [when used by the military] 46 Full blown AIDS 3 Clinician 2 Stupidity 11 So called 16 Royal [as in Royal College of ] 8 Routine [to describe appointments or investigations] 10 Attention seeking 9 Migrate [when used to describe the NHS stumbling into a new activity] 6 All new words 8 The elderly/aged 9 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
Israeli students are refusing to perform intimate examinations on anaesthetised women without their informed consent.