Re: Consent
- From: "Fa He" <facelessheartless@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 9 Apr 2006 03:26:44 -0700
Richard Cavell wrote:
It is common for surgeons to use the word 'consent' as an intransitive
verb, along the lines of:
"I will consent the patient" which means "I will obtain the patient's
consent".
What do you all have to say about this use of the word 'consent'?
Firstly, a question: isn't "consent" a transitive verb in this sense?
I suppose I am confused because the jargon is treating "patient" as a
direct object for the sake of brevity, but I am thinking "the patient"
isn't even a noun, logically speaking, since as you've indicated it's
just short for "the patient's", which is an adjective. Which I guess
leaves me wondering about the transitive/intransitive question....
I suppose my short answer is that jargon is strange. Obviously the
usage is acceptable among surgeons who use that kind of terminology all
the time (brevity being an important criterion for them). Outside that
context, it is almost nonsensical.
I liken it to expressions from other professions that make nouns into
verbs. For example, "to book" means, in police jargon, to record
information on a recently-arrested subject. Also, there is "to court
martial" (I don't know if there should be a hyphen in there) meaning
"try on criminal charges in a court martial", which I assume is
actually a slang usage, since "court martial" is technically just a
noun meaning military court. This usage is so common that it is hardly
jargon, though. If I think of some other examples, I'll chime in.
.
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