4 ms·

I dont know why youre getting downvoted, the latin-rich terminology in medicine is pompous and unnecessary. if you want to learn anything about your own body, y

I dont know why youre getting downvoted, the latin-rich terminology in medicine is pompous and unnecessary. if you want to learn anything about your own body, you better have a dictionary. decompress a tension pneumothorax to prevent obstructive shock? depends on which site is cirucumstantially advantageous (midclavicular or midaxiallary), but generally involves palpating to locate the correct intercostal region. need a catheter of sufficient french. or if someone's chest is filling with air and crushing their organs, you have to find the correct space between ribs by touch. use a big needle. if the front of their chest is blocked, you can go in under the armpit. give me break.

fungos 6y ago
> I dont know why youre getting downvoted, the latin-rich terminology in medicine is pompous and unnecessary. C'mon! This may seems true for english speakers and non-romance languages. But I as a non-english native speaker, can say exactly the same about CS terminology! It is just too pompous and unnecessary, as it will in almost any other non-germanic/anglic language.
lhorie 6y ago
As someone who speaks a latin-derived language, "in vivo" and "in vitro" are immediately easy to infer from context. There's nothing about latin/greek that is pompous: we use words like "dentist" and "plumber" and any english speaking person knows what they mean. Personally, I believe english is the lingua franca of the world precisely because it has a large number of appropriations and thus a very large and diverse vocabulary. Rather than expecting specialists to water down their vocabulary to cater to the uninitiated, it seems more reasonable to expect that science journalists should instead learn said jargon and learn how to interpret studies and abstracts properly. I'd go a step further and even argue that a highly educated society ought to encourage and celebrate cross-discipline learning not just by media reporters but by every individual, rather than expect everyone to meet at a mediocre common denominator.
imtringued 6y ago
Isn't this just a matter of medicine having chosen Latin as the international language? By that same logic we should complain that programming is done in English as well. Yes, you have to learn a new language, no you don't have to learn all of them (which would be the case if we did not standardize on languages for specific fields).

fungos 6y ago

> I dont know why youre getting downvoted, the latin-rich terminology in medicine is pompous and unnecessary. C'mon! This may seems true for english speakers and non-romance languages. But I as a non-english native speaker, can say exactly the same about CS terminology! It is just too pompous and unnecessary, as it will in almost any other non-germanic/anglic language.

lhorie 6y ago

As someone who speaks a latin-derived language, "in vivo" and "in vitro" are immediately easy to infer from context. There's nothing about latin/greek that is pompous: we use words like "dentist" and "plumber" and any english speaking person knows what they mean. Personally, I believe english is the lingua franca of the world precisely because it has a large number of appropriations and thus a very large and diverse vocabulary. Rather than expecting specialists to water down their vocabulary to cater to the uninitiated, it seems more reasonable to expect that science journalists should instead learn said jargon and learn how to interpret studies and abstracts properly. I'd go a step further and even argue that a highly educated society ought to encourage and celebrate cross-discipline learning not just by media reporters but by every individual, rather than expect everyone to meet at a mediocre common denominator.

imtringued 6y ago

Isn't this just a matter of medicine having chosen Latin as the international language? By that same logic we should complain that programming is done in English as well. Yes, you have to learn a new language, no you don't have to learn all of them (which would be the case if we did not standardize on languages for specific fields).