| What jargon term annoys you the most? | Why? |
|---|---|
| Gaming |
"Gaming" refers to playing games, either online or in real life. It is not "gambling" and should not be used as a weasel word to make gambling seem nicer or less threatening. Especially by governments. "Minister for Gaming"? Really? How about "Minister For Exploitation"? |
| Convo |
A conversation is a discussion between rational people |
| tachycardia |
A patient will understand "fast heart reate" more quickly - why say tachycardia then have to explain what it is? |
| Anything that is reduced to an acronym |
Acronyms are usually only understood by ‘inner circles’ so their use should be limited appropriately. |
| mechanical fall |
ALL falls are 'mechanical' and should have the causal factors identified! |
| DEFCON 5 |
All these military terms like DEFCON, HUMINT or CODE ORANGE which have crept into our daily lives need to be banned immediately. In the army they mean something. Running out of crisps is NOT a Code Red situation. |
| Ballpark |
Another American term which doesn't mean much elsewhere. |
| personality disorder |
Are you saying they are a broken person? This is a stigmatising and judgemental diagnosis, like so many other clinical terms used to describe neurodiversity and social/relationship challenges. |
| CALD |
Aren't we all Culturally and Linguistically Diverse People? And who isn't the 'CALD' when we are delivering services and what to we call them? What/who is the Mainstream? It (may) creates an Us and Them binary polarity or opposition. |
| asymptomatic |
As a health professional I understand that this means "without symptoms", but for my partner who doesn't have a health background and for whom English is not his first language, it meant that you have "a symptom". Imagine how different the Covid-19 health information sounded once he learnt that? I often wonder how many other people still don't understand this term, and who have been following an entirely differently set of Covid safety rules as a result (ie, "stay home if you have symptoms, but you can leave the house if you have a (one) symptom".) |
| Passed away |
as a healthcare worker we use medical terminology in most other settings! |
| active consideration |
As opposed to inactive consideration? just say consideration |
| Capacity Building |
Because capacity means take more on, not learn more skills. |
| acopia |
Because it is: |
| Accommodation |
Because it means different things and it is easy to replace with 'house' or 'flat' |
| sciatica |
Because it means different things to everyone! |
| evidence-based practice |
because it means nothing to clients who just want a service |
| acronyms |
Because many of them are not even familiar to nurses. They are coined by individuals and are not necessarily of common use. We need to remember about 6 out of 10 people in Australia have low or poor health literacy. |
| AO's |
Because no-one outside of the government understands that means Administration Officers |
| Stakeholders |
Because people holding stakes usually also hold a hammer. When talking about health or public services we hold people in our hands not stakes |
| What jargon term annoys you the most? | Why? |
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