Doctors are perhaps too busy to pay attention to new words - new meaning what they had not learned in their student lives, not 'new' words. Then they hear something, register something else, and then use the words incorrectly. It was a coincidence that two different doctors committed the same error and I saw it in the span of one week.
I received an article for publication in our journal JPGO. The following sentence was found in the text of the article, which was a case report. "After compiling the preoperative requirements, corrective surgery was performed on the patient."
A couple of days later, I was scrutinizing a report made by a medical officer of the civic body. This officer was in charge of the healthcare of an entire civic ward, the entire city being divided into areas called wards from A to P, and each one into North and South or East and West. It was about an inspection performed by him after a doctor answered a show-cause notice served to him by the civic body. There was the following sentence in the report, and I was expected to offer my remarks on it as the chairman of the PCPNDT committee of the civic body. "It was found during the inspection that the doctor had compiled the deficiencies pointed out..."
In both the instances, they meant to use the verb 'comply' and not the verb 'compile'. In case one or both of these words are new to any reader (I sincerely hope not), the dictionary meanings of these two words are as shown below, acknowledging the copyright of the respective dictionaries and thanking them for educational use of their meanings in this article.
I corrected the word in the scientific article and informed the author about it, because it was a good article and I wanted it for our journal. I could not do so in the report I read in the PCPNDT committee meetng because it was a legal document and I had to respond to it. So I wrote,
"Since the respondent has just only 'compiled' the deficiencies, we are unable to offer any remarks on the further course of action to be taken."
Something hilarious happened the next day, which was in the same vein, though the word was different. There was a meeting of big bosses of the major civic hospitals in the office of the Boss' Boss. Heads of various departments in the hospitals, lawyers and NGOs were present too (by invitation). A new form was being discussed, which was a modification of the forms issued by the central government and state government. The additions had made this new form quite exhaustive and hence quite big too. There was a consultant wearing a necktie and all. He offered his opinion as follows.
"The form needs to be shortlisted."
Everyone just kept quiet. Perhaps it was a slip of tongue. After five minutes, he said again, "the form needs to be shortlisted." People's response to this was the same as the first time.
Perhaps he had heard the word 'shortlist' from someone, and liked it, and thought it was a more distinguished way of saying 'shorten'.
For those who think this is a new word, the meaning of the word in the Oxford dictionary is as follows, (acknowledging its copyright and thanking the editors for the use of the meaning for educational purposes):
'Put (someone or something) on a short list. An example is offered, as follows: the novel was short-listed for the Booker Prize'.
I received an article for publication in our journal JPGO. The following sentence was found in the text of the article, which was a case report. "After compiling the preoperative requirements, corrective surgery was performed on the patient."
A couple of days later, I was scrutinizing a report made by a medical officer of the civic body. This officer was in charge of the healthcare of an entire civic ward, the entire city being divided into areas called wards from A to P, and each one into North and South or East and West. It was about an inspection performed by him after a doctor answered a show-cause notice served to him by the civic body. There was the following sentence in the report, and I was expected to offer my remarks on it as the chairman of the PCPNDT committee of the civic body. "It was found during the inspection that the doctor had compiled the deficiencies pointed out..."
In both the instances, they meant to use the verb 'comply' and not the verb 'compile'. In case one or both of these words are new to any reader (I sincerely hope not), the dictionary meanings of these two words are as shown below, acknowledging the copyright of the respective dictionaries and thanking them for educational use of their meanings in this article.
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Word
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Meaning
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Macmillan dictionary
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Comply
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meet specified standards
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to obey a rule or law, or to do what someone asks you to
do.
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Compile
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Produce (something, especially a list, report, or book) by
assembling information collected from other sources.
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to make something such as a list or book by bringing
together information from many different places.
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I corrected the word in the scientific article and informed the author about it, because it was a good article and I wanted it for our journal. I could not do so in the report I read in the PCPNDT committee meetng because it was a legal document and I had to respond to it. So I wrote,
"Since the respondent has just only 'compiled' the deficiencies, we are unable to offer any remarks on the further course of action to be taken."
Something hilarious happened the next day, which was in the same vein, though the word was different. There was a meeting of big bosses of the major civic hospitals in the office of the Boss' Boss. Heads of various departments in the hospitals, lawyers and NGOs were present too (by invitation). A new form was being discussed, which was a modification of the forms issued by the central government and state government. The additions had made this new form quite exhaustive and hence quite big too. There was a consultant wearing a necktie and all. He offered his opinion as follows.
"The form needs to be shortlisted."
Everyone just kept quiet. Perhaps it was a slip of tongue. After five minutes, he said again, "the form needs to be shortlisted." People's response to this was the same as the first time.
Perhaps he had heard the word 'shortlist' from someone, and liked it, and thought it was a more distinguished way of saying 'shorten'.
For those who think this is a new word, the meaning of the word in the Oxford dictionary is as follows, (acknowledging its copyright and thanking the editors for the use of the meaning for educational purposes):
'Put (someone or something) on a short list. An example is offered, as follows: the novel was short-listed for the Booker Prize'.
