# How come no one on Grey's Anatomy can say anesthesia?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2011, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-no-one-on-greys-anatomy-can-say-anesthesia/585083 "2011-06-11T05:22:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-no-one-on-greys-anatomy-can-say-anesthesia/585083/21 "2011-06-13T03:25:15Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > If everyone’s saying it, it’s clearly a dialectical variation that either they all shared by happenstance or was imposed by one person who was confident in their pronunciation and the others just followed along, but it’s not ‘wrong’. Hmm. I had not seen spark240’s post when I posted, but I would like to know if any dictionary gives a pronunciation without the “th.” I haven’t seen one. I wanted to know if maybe I was being way too picky and perhaps only a few people say it “right”; that appears not to be the case. (Based on this extremely scientific and representative sample we have in the thread. ;)) ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-no-one-on-greys-anatomy-can-say-anesthesia/585083/22 "2011-06-13T04:08:56Z")
It’s a “th” sound. Most people can’t wrap their mouths around anesthetist, yet they manage ok with anesthesiologist, so I’ve switched to saying that. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-no-one-on-greys-anatomy-can-say-anesthesia/585083/23 "2011-06-13T04:14:48Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > For “anesthetic,” there’s no “th” or “t” sound. “an-uh-SET-ic”. Ew. That sounds more like “antiseptic” than “anesthetic.” Out of curiousity, how do you say “prosthetic”? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-no-one-on-greys-anatomy-can-say-anesthesia/585083/24 "2011-06-13T05:40:57Z")
> [@Implicit](#): > > Most people can’t wrap their mouths around anesthetist, yet they manage ok with anesthesiologist, so I’ve switched to saying that. These are not the same thing, you know. An anesthetist (in American terminology) is an RN, an anesthesiologist is an MD. An anesthetist must work under the supervision of a physician (who might be an anesthesiologist). ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-no-one-on-greys-anatomy-can-say-anesthesia/585083/25 "2011-06-13T05:46:29Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > These are not the same thing, you know. An anesthetist (in American terminology) is an RN, an anesthesiologist is an MD. An anesthetist must work under the supervision of a physician (who might be an anesthesiologist). I’m in Canada and they are interchangeable here since there are no nurse anesthetists. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-no-one-on-greys-anatomy-can-say-anesthesia/585083/26 "2011-06-13T13:02:31Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Ew. That sounds more like “antiseptic” than “anesthetic.” > > Out of curiousity, how do you say “prosthetic”? prah-SET-ic in normal speech, prahs-THET-ic if I’m thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-no-one-on-greys-anatomy-can-say-anesthesia/585083/27 "2011-06-14T21:59:48Z")
another annoying aspect of Grey’s that bothers me the most… where is the Emergency department? It doesn’t seem to exist. Surgeons run all the traumas. Surgeons wait in the ambulance bay to assess critical patients coming in, without another doctor in sight. Just basing this on 10-years of ER watching, but wouldn’t there be a full ER staff, and they’d call for surgical consults when needed? My wife says that they’re there, we just don’t see 'em. My ass, I say. I’m sure one of the main cast would have some kind of encounter with an ER-attending that would warrant some screen time. Or am I just crazy? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-no-one-on-greys-anatomy-can-say-anesthesia/585083.md?page=1)