# Why do nurses say "sahntimeter"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-nurses-say-sahntimeter/96888>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 4, 2001, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-nurses-say-sahntimeter/96888 "2001-12-04T19:50:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Richard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Richard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2001, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-nurses-say-sahntimeter/96888/21 "2001-12-06T21:09:37Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Norrybaby \*  
> \*\*Must be an american thing, after all, look at the way you pronounce aluminium \*\*

Yeah, but we spell it differently too. If the last “i” was in the word, I’m sure we would pronounce it the same way you do. I don’t know what happened to that “i”, since the “ium” ending is consistent with many other metallic elements. Maybe somebody just decided it had too many syllables.

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**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-nurses-say-sahntimeter/96888/22 "2001-12-07T01:57:26Z")

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Ugh…I hate the pronunciation “sahntimeter”. I have never pronounced it that way, although older nurses I work with do it. It just sounds stupid to me.

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**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-nurses-say-sahntimeter/96888/23 "2001-12-07T02:22:09Z")

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My wife’s an LVN, she challenged the board by working in several floors (areas of expertise) such as Labor and Delivery, Medical/Surgical, Pediatrics and ER; then passed her board exam. She has a degree, but not in nursing.

She’s heard it pronounced Sahntimeter and felt she was pronouncing it wrong. Even so, she continued to pronounce it ‘sentimeter’.

She never bothered to question it though as she worked in a County hospital where there was more work than you can imagine, and little if any time for questioning. She’s retired now, but still holds her license.

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**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2001, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-nurses-say-sahntimeter/96888/24 "2001-12-07T02:53:34Z")

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Ironically, the French would probably pronounce it “sahn-tim-ett”. Here, may people say “cent-im-eeter” although most surgeons here say sahn-tim-eeter.

American medical pronounciations sometime differ from Canadian ones. The pronounciation “dwod-en-um” instead of ‘duo-dee-num’ sounds very strange to me. Don’t get me started on cerumen. And I’m one of those guys who could give a rat’s ass if people use terms like ain’t or other things that deprive grammarians of their forty winks.

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