“The male nurse looked up from his book…”
“The nurse looked up from his book…”
OK, so nurse maybe implies female more often than not, but four words later and any prejudgment is corrected. Man (heh), I can’t stand “male nurse”.
And while I’m at it, “added bonus” and “my personal favorite” can go to hell.
I don’t like “male nurse” either.
Perhaps “personal favorite” is distinct from a “collective favorite” that is favored by a group of people. In the case of “personal favorite,” the emphasis is on an idiosyncratic preference.
I don’t like “male nurse” either.
Perhaps “personal favorite” is distinct from a “collective favorite” that is favored by a group of people. In the case of “personal favorite,” the emphasis is on an idiosyncratic preference.
Interesting. Me being a product of an admittedly sexist earlier era, my subconscious automatically processed this just now (even knowing consciously that the subject under discussion was male nurses vs. female nurses) as “[female] nurse looking up from some other guy’s book”, a character referred to earlier in the paragraph perhaps; “his” book.
[QUOTE=ragerdude]
I don’t like “male nurse” either.
Me neither and, heck, I’ve been a “male nurse” for over 25 years!
The title I’m more used to is RN, thank you veddy much…yet I
sometimes get the question, “Are you a male nurse?”, to which
I reply, “…last time I checked I was.”
The MICU/CCU I work in has more than its share of boy RNs
and when we’re fully staffed with men I usually tell people,
“Tonight the toilet seat stays up all night!!!”
eggerhaus RN
ACLS certified even
I agree on “male nurse”, but then maybe the profession needs to be retitled, since the word “nurse” in some other contexts is extremely female. In many languages the very word for nurse is blatantly female, like Krankenschwester in Germany. I think they also address nurses as “Sister” in England. I would be interested to know what they do in those places for male practitioners.
Point taken, but isn’t “my favorite” sufficient?
I didn’t know people were still using the term. It seems hideously old fashioned. It’s true that a lot nurses are women, but I don’t see what’s so remarkable about a man being a nurse that implies the need for the term. If I need a nurse, I don’t care if you’re from Mars as long as you are an actual nurse.
I’m 31 and female and American, for the record.
My brother is a German “Krankenpfleger” (roughly “caregiver of the sick”) Interestingly many patients believe that it’s a different job and inferior to a “real” nurse. At least as far as the official certification is concerned the female form was changed to the direct female equivalent “Krankenpflegerin” but so far nobody says that in real life.
I have two relatives, a cousin and a second cousin, male, who are both RN’s. They loath “male nurse” too.
But what they hate even more is the question “What? You couldn’t hack it as a doctor?.”
Ask their wives(also RN’s) about the assumption some have that male nurses are all gay.
I hear a lot of nurse talk, as not only are those relative RN’s so was my mom, her sister my aunt, and my aun’ts daughter, another cousin, who are all RN’s.
Me? Are you kidding? I can handle poo and puke, but needles, blood, and all that?* Shiver*
I figured this was a holdover from the days when all nurses where nuns.
Speaking as a person who just got in to nursing school TODAY (GO ME!!! I GET TO BE A NURSE!!), I think “male nurse” is dumb. So I pledge to never use it.
(Yeah, I only posted to brag, but at least I didn’t start a whole thread over it. 
It’s been a difficult few months, and this is the best news I’ve had all year. And I’m at home alone and have no one else to share it with. So…yeah.)
On a related note the French term for midwife is sage femme, literly “wise woman”. So what are male midwifes called?
Three possibilities, all of which actually do exist:
Anyway, I think it was Woody Allen who said that his sister was the first woman to be a male nurse in New York State.
Furthermore, the term bugs me because I often see it used in such a way as to imply that the care or conditions are substandard, harsh, or otherwise crummy.
It could be worse. My dad not only talks about male nurses, but women doctors (as opposed to the “normal” male kind, who are just “doctors”). Or sometimes even “gal doctors”.
“Male nurse” grates on my nerves, but not half as much as “murse.” It’s derogatory and rude.
Rather amusing one…last night was flipping through the channels and saw a listing on Cinemax (of course) for “The Last Seduction 2.” Could not stop giggling.
Hey, congratulations! Best of luck in your career!
“Sister” is a title for a promoted, senior nurse. The male equivalent is “Charge Nurse” or something like that.
It is kind of hard for a male to be a nurse in the traditional sense: a woman hired to breastfeed a noblewoman’s baby, now usually referred to as a wet nurse. Unfortuantely there’s no good word in English to refer to male caregivers of the sick so we do our best with what we have.
Yeah, my mom tells me she’s been called “a lady doctor” once or twice.