Words: The accurate use of language

Words are used to convey meaning. The passage of time can alter the generally accepted understanding of a word. A good example of this is the modern connotation of the word gay. In science and in surgery, however, a certain exactitude of meaning is necessary to accurately transfer information. This was well brought home to me in the early 1960s in Oxford. On grand rounds a confident and ambitious young surgeon was presenting a case in which he had inadvertently divided the common bile duct. “I still cannot understand how it occurred,” he said and went on, “You see I visualised the duct perfectly.” Whereupon up spoke an acerbic professor of medicine: “I am not surprised you cut the duct if you only visualised it but did not see it.”

The contemporary alternative use of the word visualise “to render visible” was obviously considered a vulgar modernism by our seniors in Oxford. As the assistant at the operation I learnt to avoid ambiguity in the use of words and to use clear concise English to convey meaning. Perhaps just as important I also learnt never to hurry gall bladder surgery.