So, there are phonemes and graphemes. A phoneme is a basic indivisible unit of sound, the linguistic atom. A grapheme is a symbol that represents a phoneme. Each grapheme in […]
Columnists
James Raftery: Cancer drug prices and olaparib
NICE’s provisional rejection of Astra Zeneca’s olaparib (Lynparza) for a genetic subset (BRCA1/2 gene mutation) of ovarian cancers has several themes which have not been commented on. One is that […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word … Join the Q
Just like the grapheme /x/, which I discussed last time, the grapheme /q/ is among the symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) that do not represent the sounds of […]
Desmond O’Neill: The success and opportunities arising from population ageing
There is an extra uplift from spring conferences which mirrors the freshness of the season. My own traverse started in Vienna with a reflection on how the hegemony of the […]
Neville Goodman’s metaphor watch: I’m in the army now
Many metaphors are helpful; many metaphors are irritating; a few are harmful. It’s not surprising that military metaphors abound in medical writing: disease is the enemy; drugs are the weapons […]
Sandra Lako: Ebola in Sierra Leone—one year on
Today marks the one year anniversary since Ebola was confirmed in Sierra Leone. It is not a happy one year anniversary, but there is hope. Thankfully the numbers have significantly reduced […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . The X factor
There are symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) that do not represent the sounds of letters they look like. Among these is the grapheme /x/, which does not represent […]
David Oliver: Do bring me problems
In her book Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World, Barbara Ehrenreich brilliantly deconstructed this cult. Her starting point was her own diagnosis of breast cancer […]
William Cayley: Less is more
Both seasoned clinicians and learners in today’s medical environment receive both explicit and unspoken messages that the best medicine involves advanced technology, the latest medications, and highly specialized care. Evidence […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . It’s all Gweek to me
The BMJ‘s readers, even those who have not studied Greek as a language, ancient or modern, will probably be familiar with most, if not all, of the letters in its […]