ob-gyn

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 8/27/02 10:05:24 AM Eastern Daylight Time, douglas at NB.NET
writes:

> I've heard mostly the "O, B, G, Y, N" version. The second most frequent in
>  my experience is "ob-gynie" /abgaini/. I think I have heard "ob-gyn"
>  /abgain/ but only very seldom.

"Gynecologist" or "gynecology" is called /gai nee/ (hard "g") except in the
expression "OB-Gyn" which in my experience is always either /oh bee jin/
(soft "g") or less often spelled out.  Strange that "gyn" would vary between
the hard and soft g depending on context.

>  What about "ear-nose-throat" > "ENT": always "E, N, T", I think, never
>  "ent" /Ent/, in my experience. Perhaps in some other town there are such
>  ents, though?

There used to be a specialty called "EENT" for "Eye, ear, nose, and throat".
Perhaps the ENT doctors made a point of spelling out their more restrictive
specialization so as not to be bothered by patients wanting eyeglasses.

          - Jim Landau