The Benefits of a Heartless Jargon
ERH 101, Section 1
Date Due: 13 July 2014
Date Sub.: 13 July 2014
Paper No. 2
Help Received: WC &
Peer response with
Christopher Liberman
& Seth Chandler
Andrew Campo
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Jargon is a specialized language that belongs to a particular group of
people. Different industries and communities tend to develop their own words
and abbreviations to describe objects and situations that are found only in their
specialization. This helps them to communicate better and form closer
relationships within their group. The medical community has developed its own
form of jargon. This can be frustrating at times to the patients who are unfamiliar
with and unable to understand the medical language, “medical students may
forget that technical jargon is unfamiliar to laypeople” (LeBlanc). In her article,
“Learning the Language,” Perri Klass explains why medical jargon exists and
some of the benefits associated with it. She connects with the reader by
appealing to their emotions and uses logic to justify the medical jargon as a
language that benefits the medical community.
This narration is the story of a student as she is first exposed to an
unfamiliar medical language. She learns many new abbreviations and medical
slang, which she eventually incorporates into her own vocabulary. Much of the
jargon is lesser-known names for medical diseases. Other phrases contain
baseball references, referring to the patients as “players” and the doctors as a
“team.” The abbreviations and jargon she learns often sounds cold and
heartless; however, this vocabulary provides many benefits to hospitals and the
medical community.
One of the first things that Perri Klass did in this essay was establish
credibility. She accomplishes this by narrating her experiences of what she has
observed as a medical student, “If I learned nothing else during my first three
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months of working in the hospital as a medical student, I learned endless jargon
and abbreviations” (Klass 49). She is a novice in the medical field, and can act
as a bridge between doctors and those who are not in medicine. Besides
language, she also acknowledges her recent understanding of medical grammar.
“I picked up not only the specific expressions, but also the patterns of speech
and grammatical conventions; for example, you never say that a patient’s blood
pressure fell or that his cardiac enzymes rose. Instead, the patient is always the
subject of the verb: ‘He dropped his pressure.’ [and] ‘He bumped his enzymes.’’
(Klass 49). By demonstrating her knowledge of medical vocabulary and
grammar, the author proves herself as an insightful source on the subject of
medical jargon. In addition to establishing credibility, the author finds ways to
gain the readers sympathy.
The author uses emotion to identify with the reader. One of the ways she
does this is through demonstrating her disgust about how unemotional the
diction, commonplace in the medical community, can be. “And there is the
jargon that you don’t ever want to hear yourself using.” (Klass 50). An example
of this was a doctor’s use of the abbreviation “CTD”, as a reference to death,
which translates into “Circling The Drain.” It is disturbing to think that a doctor
can take death so lightly. The author relates to this by using powerful words to
refer to the abbreviation as “vivid and terrible” (Klass 50). In addition, she regrets
having become accustomed to the usage of such phrases by other people. “I am
uncomfortably aware that I will never again notice the peculiarities and even
atrocities of medical language as keenly as I did this summer.” This is a great
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example of the author connecting to readers by appealing to their conscious.
There are other ways in which the author uses emotions to connect with the
reader.
The anxiousness experienced by the author is similar to the way many
people feel when placed in a new environment. It is also common for people to
become influenced by these new situations. “You know that your training is
changing you, but there are certain changes you think would be going a little far.”
(Klass 50). This is relatable to the audience, because change can be
uncomfortable. Many people are apprehensive and even afraid of change.
The writer appeals to the audience by writing in a way that they can easily
understand. Instead of speaking in medical terms, the author is comprehensible
to a general audience. This text does not require a medical background to be
understood. Even when Klass does use medical quotes, she often explains the
meanings behind them. The author provides specific examples and explains the
meanings behind them to effectively communicate her perspective on medical
jargon.
The writer uses logical points to justify the use of medical jargon. One of
her reasons is to aid in communication, “It enables me to understand my
colleagues, to communicate effectively in the hospital.” (Klass 51). The language
also brings together the hospital and allows them to work together more
efficiently. “This specialized language contributes to a sense of closeness and
professional spirit among people who are under a great deal of stress” (Klass
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49). By looking at jargon from a strictly logical perspective, the author can
explain some of its benefits.
The most significant benefit of the medical jargon is that it helps to protect
the emotions of the doctors and nurses who are constantly dealing with highstress situations, “the most important functions of medical jargon is to “help
doctors maintain some distance from their patients.” (Klass 50). The author
believes that maintaining some distance from their patients serves to protect the
psyche of the doctors, so they are not as burdened by the prevalence of death
that exists in hospitals. This is an example of the author using reasoning to
support the use of jargon. Medical jargon can also be used to protect the
emotions of the patients.
Since doctors having their own language, they can talk about their patients
without the patient’s knowledge, “this linguistic separation between doctors and
patients allows conversations to go on at the bedside that are unintelligible to the
patient” (Klass 51). Most people do not understand medical talk; this can be
useful by lessening the emotional impact of an illness, especially if it is severe
and allows patients to recover faster, “I suppose that we are in some sense
taking those pains and problems under our jurisdiction and also reducing their
emotional impact.” (Klass 51). By not understanding the extent of their condition,
patients have a better chance of not losing hope and a better chance of recovery.
Although this argument is sound, it does not take into account the perspective of
the patient.
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This essay is presented mostly from a medical point of view. Despite the
author’s ability to act as a translator between medical talk and the general public,
this story does not consider a patients attitude towards medical jargon. It can be
frustrating for patients to listen to doctors’ talk about their condition in a language
that is foreign and incomprehensible to them.
The author establishes credibility through her personal narrative, appeals
to the emotions of the reader, and uses logical reasoning to explain the benefits
of medical jargon. She points out the emotional flaws of the language as well as
explaining the reasoning behind it. Despite discussing a topic only familiar to a
specific community, her narrative is easy for a general audience to understand.
This essay is significant because it not only helps us to understand jargon in the
medical world, but also provides insight into the languages and slangs within
different communities and cultures.
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Works Cited
Klass, Perri. "Learning the Language." Composing Knowledge: Readings for
College Writers. Ed. Rolf Norgaard. Boston: Bedford-St. Martin's, 2007.
48-51. Print.
LeBlanc, Thomas W., et al. "Patient Understanding Of Medical Jargon: A Survey
Study Of U.S. Medical Students." Patient Education & Counseling 95.2
(2014): 238-242. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 July 2014.