When I use a word . . . A short glossary of medical slang

Defining slangI have previously defined medical terminology as a spectrum of types, from high to low1:technical terms—jargon—slang—colloquialisms—cant.The imperfections of this classification illustrate the difficulties in taming medical slang. Many terms that might be thought of as slang are better thought of as jargon, colloquialisms, or even cant.Changes in the language occur very quickly in this area, perhaps faster than in conventional language and yesterday’s slang is no longer today’s, while today’s, newly minted, will not be tomorrow’s.The large number of abbreviations, contractions, and acronyms that litter the field add further difficulties. Take, for example, DNA. When it stands for DNA it can be thought of as a technical term, although it might equally be regarded as jargon or even a colloquialism. However, when it stands for “did not attend” it slips towards the right side of the spectrum and is either jargon or slang; when used pejoratively it could be…
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