You're an FLK and YMDYF!

[dr_phil_physics]

slithytove, one of my Clarion buddies, had a blog entry where the comments went into a discussion of medical shorthand slang. I knew FLK was "funny looking kid", but I wasn't sure about GLM -- though it turned out I was right ("good looking mom"). Anyways, so I Googled and found a UK doctor talking about this and this long list of UK medical slang, most of which works over here, too.

Some are quite amusing, some are somewhat repetitive or variations on the same theme. I like the couple of Vet terms at the end such as BSBF buy small bags of food (almost dead). Others are a bit rude, typical of people in a demanding business, and some fall into the category of sad, but probably true. Example: Cold-tea sign - refers to the several cups of cold tea on the bedside cabinet beside a dead geriatric (i.e. no-one noticed the patient had died).

Every business has its shorthand. If you try to use this in your writing, though, you want to be careful to make it (a) understandable and (b) not fall into an As You Know Bob-ism. (grin)

Dr. Phil