Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 09:23:12 -0500

From: Molly Dickmeyer dickmeye[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]JBLSMTP.PHL.LRPUB.COM

Subject: (in)service, v.t. -Reply



Try nursing for deliberately obfuscating jargon. I encounter "client"

constantly when editing nursing books--a nurse told me they don't

consider it depersonalizing, it's a way of denoting wellness (another of

my favorite overused nursing terms)--for instance, in gerontological

nursing, they don't wish to imply that aging is an illness, so they prefer

client to patient. An admirable aim, but boy do they take it too far.



I love encountering the serviced/served slip-up. I grew up on a farm too.



Molly Connors (married name, accounts not changed yet)

dickmeye[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]phl.lrpub.com



Beverly Flanigan FLANIGAN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OUVAXA.CATS.OHIOU.EDU

05/25/96 07:56pm EXCERPTED

with me but then added that she often feels these children aren't

"serviced" adequately. Having grown up on a farm in Minnesota, I

know another meaning for "serviced." Talk about adding insult to

injury.

Educationese is full of such depersonalizing jargon, as is

Speech/Hearing Clinic talk, where even schoolchildren are "clients."