Medical slang
BMJ 2002; 325 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0207225 (Published 01 July 2002) Cite this as: BMJ 2002;325:0207225
- A T Fox, paediatric specialist registrar1,
- Pauline Cahill, psychologist2,
- Michael Fertleman, specialist registrar in geriatrics3
- 1Luton and Dunstable Hospital, Luton LU4 0DZ
- 2Department of Psychology, University of West of England, Bristol BS16 2JP
- 3University College Hospital, London WC1E 6BT
All professions speak a secret language, indecipherable to outsiders. This is especially true of medicine. Scientific jargon and three letter acronyms (TLAs) are increasingly a part of a doctor's everyday language.1 There is, however, yet another vocabulary that does not appear in any medical texts, journals, or dictionaries but is almost universally understood by junior doctors. This is medical slang.
Slang is defined as “the special vocabulary used by any set of persons of a low or disreputable character.”2 Perhaps staff in emergency medicine departments, the epicentre of medical slang, would prefer the kinder definition of “language of a highly colloquial type.” Either way, medical slang has a growing vocabulary, and over several years we have collected over 200 slang terms in use in British hospitals.
Who uses it?
Medical slang seems to be an international phenomenon. Work from the United States and Brazil suggests that slang terminology often evolves locally.34 This may be expected, given that acronyms and puns seldom retain their humour after translation. But the source of the slang itself may cross language barriers. A common British diagnosis such as PFO (pissed, fell over) has a Brazilian correlate in PIMBA (literally translated as “swollen footed drunk run over beggar”).4 Even within Britain, use varies. The TTR (tea time review) is used in northern hospitals yet seems to be unheard of in southern England.
What influences it?
Books such as The House of God brought us “turfing” and “bouncing,” and Patrick Keating's Bluffer's Guide taught us the “rule of fives.”56 Television is also responsible for proliferating terms such as that used in medical drama ER, where a “code brown” means …
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