Air Force Language (1962); Medical Slang (1994)

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>    The Glossary is on pages 40-57.  "This glossary contains approximately
> four hundred terms, some of which are not restricted in use to the Navy
> Air Force, but which are germane to an understanding of parts of the
> paper and of the psychology of Navy personnel."

Is "the whole nine yards" there?

>"STRONG" WORDS: MEDICAL SLANG
...

>Pg. 133:
>_BOHICA_  Bend Over Here It Comes Again (Coombs et al. 990) (Not in
>RHHDAS, not in CASSELL DOS)
>Pg. 136:
>_COP_--Crotchety Old Patient (Coombs, et al. 993) (Not in RHHDAS, not in
>CASSELL DOS)
>Pg. 141:
>_FYBIGMI_--...Fuck You Brother I Got My Internship... (Not in RHHDAS, not
>in CASSELL DOS)
>Pg. 143:
>_Flooger_  a chunk of mucus coughed forcibly from a patient's tracheostomy
>opening.  Probably a contraction of _flying_ + _booger_... (Not in RHHDAS,
>not in CASSELL DOS)
>Pg. 145:
>_Guts and Butts Docs_  Gastroenterologists (Coombs, et al. 990) (Not in
>RHHDAS, not in CASSELL DOS)
>_HOWDY_  Hypertensive, Obese, White, Diabetic, Yahoo (Coombs, et al. 991)
>(Not in RHHDAS, not in CASSELL DOS)
>Pg. 147:
>_Hot dog_  a flamboyant or bizarre patient, usually with psychiatric
>problems (Scheiner 68)
>_Hump N' Thump_  Cardiovascular resuscitation (Coombs, et al. 993) (Not in
>RHHDAS, not in CASSELL DOS)
>Pg. 150:
>_MFC_  "Measure for Coffin" (Pinson 145) (Not in RHHDAS, not in CASSELL DOS)
>Pg. 151:
>_Mudd-Fudd_  Academic physician who holds both MD and PhD degrees (Coombs,
>et al. 990) (Not in RHHDAS, not in CASSELL DOS)

Most of these are not common or widespread AFAIK. Some of these may be
restricted to one city or one hospital ... some may even be idiosyncratic
personal coinages used by only one or two persons. I think I've heard only
the last one. It's hard to imagine a use for "BOHICA" or "FYBIGMI" and
these sound like ephemera invented by medical students -- perhaps
specifically for inclusion in jargon lists. "COP" doesn't sound natural and
I think if it exists at all it's a euphemism (I'd believe "COB" maybe).
What are the references?

Some other terms are universal and should be in the slang dictionary. For
example, "gomer" [medical sense] is properly included in the Cassell slang
dictionary, although I think the definition has been sanitized and I think
the etymology given (for the medical sense) is probably retrospective and
bogus. The feminine form "gomère", probably frivolously based on "mère" =
"mother" as well as on the French feminine noun ending "-e", is common also.

-- Doug Wilson