Why has the expression ‘go private’ become an a... - Thyroid UK

Thyroid UK

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Why has the expression ‘go private’ become an accepted expression to describe a decision to choose or access private healthcare

Steni profile image
36 Replies

This sloppy language annoys me every time I read it.

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Steni profile image
Steni
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36 Replies
Alanna012 profile image
Alanna012

Oh dear I'm having flashbacks to Mrs Green, my Junior school teacher! She was a stickler for correct use of grammar. You couldn't leave the class and go to your parent(s) at home time, unless you could reply to a given question in perfect formal English. Say it wrong, you not only had to repeat it, but the next day you had to reply to two sentences. Cursive, spelling and punctuation had to be perfect too. She was one of the best teachers I ever had, she didn't care where we came from, she expected us to reach her standards.

I still occasionally think of her, she is probably long dead as she was old then. Her teaching set me up well for secondary school, which was unfortunately a very underperforming school, and if you didn't have a firm foundation in the basics of the three R's you weren't getting it there either.

I daresay she'd be horrified with my speaking and writing now😬

So what is the correct form to describe 'going private?'

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toAlanna012

😂 well in my opinion the sentence should be ‘ I decided to see a Private doctor , or we ‘went privately ‘ to see a doctor - I think it’s because so many people are now using private doctors that colloquial language has become the norm. Similar effects are seen when people describe University as Uni !

I’m just old fashioned 😂

Alanna012 profile image
Alanna012 in reply toSteni

😂

Don't get me started! I think I'm old fashioned too, but the irritation manifests itself in different areas. I mean why don't girls wear slips and petticoats anymore? I actually find myself tutting when I see a visible knicker line, especially if the offender is a newsreader or TV presenter! Miserable is what I've become, despite avowing to myself as a young twenty-something that I would avoid the trap. But there's surely no need for it!

But to return to the subject of grammar, I remember an occasion years ago walking hurriedly to the station with my young son in tow, and I bent down and said 'we need to walk faster to the train station or we'll miss the train!'

A random man on the corner literally shouted in annoyance at my back, 'Railway station!' it's not a b*****y train station' 😂

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toAlanna012

Wonderful !

Alanna012 profile image
Alanna012 in reply toSteni

I stand duly corrected🎓 The sentence sounds very pretty in your example, I must admit.

I agree that the term 'Uni' is almost unforgivable.

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toAlanna012

I’ve just read it back and I have to say it really does sound pretty - thanks for engaging with this somewhat petty issue of mine - I feel better for getting if off my chest 😂

Alanna012 profile image
Alanna012 in reply toSteni

Ha ha! Glad to be of help!

But, tying this back to thyroid disease, one of the hobbies that went out the door after years of no hypothyroidism treatment was reading. I was a science fiction, fantasy and historical fiction buff, but increasingly poor concentration ability and being stuck re-reading the same sentence twenty times due to brain fog, meant I stopped reading big books, and would instead just grab magazines...you could graze them quickly and they were light and fluffy with no deep thinking or hard concentration required, but they are not good for reinforcing a good standard of written English, or widening one's vocabulary for that matter. I think I have read one book from end to end in the past 10 years. I tried to read Little Women the other day (I still have a childhood copy) and after a few pages it started to feel hard-going, despite it being an easy read, so I stopped, but am determined to commit to at least a couple pages a day.

The immediacy of internet reading doesn't help and I think I really need to cut back on technology use.

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toAlanna012

Me too - I was a voracious reader until my phone ( again the culprit ) robbed me of the joy of a slow pleasure - I am ADDICTED to an ever changing screen and stupid bite sized pieces of information which I am persuaded to believe I need - when quite clearly I don’t . A point proven by the fact that I can remember barely a word of it , whilst I can remember almost all of the hundreds of boos that I have read.

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toSteni

Sorry - I’m showing off about typing fast and makings spelling mistakes all over the place .

TiggerMe profile image
TiggerMeAmbassador in reply toAlanna012

Don't you think this crept in when the previously known as 'colleges' became 'Uni's' to set them apart from the original real Universities.... it's like a watered down version 🤷‍♀️

Alanna012 profile image
Alanna012 in reply toTiggerMe

Yes, I think you're probably right, hence we have Metropolitan uni, etc.

I admit to using this term and being a perpetrator thereof 😬💀

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toAlanna012

I admire your honesty 😂

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toAlanna012

I have never said it even once - and if my children said it I used to say they oughtn’t to go there if they could t say the right word ! 😂Please know I am half joking

DippyDame profile image
DippyDame

Evolution of the English language!!

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toDippyDame

Shame how ‘evolution’ always comes at the detriment of correct language -

DippyDame profile image
DippyDame in reply toSteni

It is perhaps worth remembering that there are people on this forum who are very unwell and who may be struggling to string a sentence together as they try to explain how they feel.

I understand that situation....been there!

Discussing thyroid issues in an informal way is the raison d'être of this forum

It seems inappropriate, therefore, to refer to the use of "sloppy language".

(Like you I detest the use of "uni" but that's another debate!)

Worrying about presenting concerns in perfect English may upset some people...it should not.

Surely so long as people understand one another in general conversation then stilted, formal English is unnecessary.

My apologies ( to everyone) if this appears critical but it comes from a 78 year old who some may say is "well educated " and who recently decided to " go private" for an operation.....and who happily uses "sloppy language" at times.

Please can we stick with thyroid issues here and leave an English MasterClass aside while many of us continue to "go private" to have blood tests carried out or to seek medical care in order improve our health.

jade_s profile image
jade_s in reply toDippyDame

I used to get annoyed at you're vs your, until i got severe b12 deficiency and lost the ability to differentiate them. To/too/two and write/right were very tricky as well.

Now I'm just happy people have the presence of mind, capacity, and energy to find their way to these forums.

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toDippyDame

Truthfully my objection isn’t to the sloppiness or otherwise of the expression it’s that the lack of familiarity with the experience makes people invent a term for it instead of sticking to what it has always been called .

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toDippyDame

yes of course - back to the Thyroid , it was fun while it lasted though you must admit !

StitchFairy profile image
StitchFairy

I think this probably took off with the introduction of mobile phones and text messaging. Limited characters in text messages meant people had to be inventive and find ways to shorten their sentences. Use as few words as you possibly can to convey your message and invent new abbreviations too IYSWIM 😉

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toStitchFairy

But now we don’t need to do that - phone keyboards are just the same as computer keyboards - I have a couple of friends who seem to think them selves ‘cool’ by continuing to use abbreviations in their texts long after the need to has disappeared .

StitchFairy profile image
StitchFairy in reply toSteni

Old habits die hard. And so many young people speak incredibly fast too.

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toStitchFairy

Maybe , I’m writing from my phone now - writing pretty fast and using whole words though. It’s just the same a writing a letter or an email 🤷‍♀️

StitchFairy profile image
StitchFairy in reply toSteni

Perhaps not everyone has phones with large enough keyboards for their fingers. Good manual dexterity isn't gifted to everyone from birth.

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toStitchFairy

Oh yes of course I hadn't thought of that - if one is a using a small keyboard from an old phone it would be very difficult. The functions of a ‘phone’ are so various and vital to many people that referring to them as phones is really a misnomer. Photograph albums, diaries, holders of work documents , social media connectors etc etc has meant that keyboards have to be accessible. I run a business and without the ability to communicate properly though what is really a mobile computer I would be lost.

Steni profile image
Steni in reply toSteni

Through ! Not though

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator

My feeling is that the de-adverbialisation of the proper use of directly into indiscriminate and near-universal use of direct has been a major part of this. Though whether it was a symptom of changes which were already occurring, or a cause of wider changes, is less clear.

The financial sector loved dropping "direct" into every advert, many company and service names and documents. This started years before internet banking.

(My spelling checker is balking at "de-adverbialisation". Though do note that it is not a magician's assistant spell checker. :-) )

Alanna012 profile image
Alanna012 in reply tohelvella

Helvella, are you related to Mrs Green?

Please give an example, goodness, I am now googling de-adverbialisation.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toAlanna012

Not that I know of. (Though someone with the surname Green is the closest relative I've ever found on 23andme.)

Even Monopoly had it right:

Go To Jail

Go directly to Jail.

Do not pass GO, do not collect $200

DippyDame profile image
DippyDame in reply tohelvella

To quote Dylan, " The times they are a-changin' "

Steni profile image
Steni

Absolutely! You are spot on and what a great word deadverbialisation is !

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toSteni

Without a hyphen, I included one to help with seeing the unfamiliar word but don't think it should have one, has just done something I though close to impossible.

In days past, a googlewhack was a search term which produced just one link.

I just got an almost-DuckDuckGowhack!

The sole instance I found was on a Russian site. But they were both links to the same single article - an entry list of articles and the index to that list or something like that).

Steni profile image
Steni in reply tohelvella

Slightly lost now … ( three dots only note !)

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toSteni

Does this help? Or does it make it much worse?

Screenshot of a DuckDuckGo search showing two hits but both to same article.
Steni profile image
Steni in reply tohelvella

It is what I understood - the thing I was confused over was the Duck reference 😂

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toSteni

It is a search engine which many people use instead of, say, Google or Bing.

duckduckgo.com/

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