On Some Peculiarities of Medical Slang

Abstract

Slang is a general language phenomenon. All layers of the society use slang units characteristic of the very layer they belong to. Medical field proves no exception in this regard. Medical slang is used by medical workers and is recognized and understood only by that very community. Since the relationship between a doctor and a patient is based on trust, slang acts as a secret and coded language for cases when the discussion of a certain case is not to be directly understood by the patient himself.