Hi! Can you native-swirling-tounges help this poor Swede out before his brain becomes a mashed potatoe or something like that? It´s about the term "next of kin", will that in plural be "nexts of kin" or is "next of kin" both singular and plural?

  //  Peter

i don't think i've heard of next of kin ever being plural but i'm pretty sure nexts of kin is not right since nexts is never a word in english

Thanx Ethan. That´s what I thought and as far as I remember also what I was tought in school. For reasons that would be a long, long story to explain I had to check it (the phrase) out and Google gave me 25 hits for "nexts of kin" so I became confuzzled. :-)

Mari says same for plural and singular, as "kin" is both.

I'd go with Mari on this. 

Yeah...my worthless degree in English didn't get me much of a job...but I do know that there's no plural for next...=)

Next question:

If a ward in a hospital has more patients than beds, do you referre to it as being "overcrowded", or is there a special medical term for owercrowded wards?

One more:

Is "Senior Physician in charge" the correct way to referre to the "Top Dog" among the Senior Physicians on a ward? Or, again, is there some special medical term for that position?

Sorry for taking up place with this that has nothing directly to do with parodying, but knowing myself all too well these terms etc will probably end up used that way too, sooner or later. :-)

If a ward in a hospital has more patients than beds, do you referre to it as being "overcrowded", or is there a special medical term for owercrowded wards?

Overcrowded will do... unless you're a NHS manager, then it's probably something like "120% utilisation of resources"


Is "Senior Physician in charge" the correct way to referre to the "Top Dog" among the Senior Physicians on a ward? Or, again, is there some special medical term for that position?

In the UK you wouldn't refer to the "senior physician" (it has a bit of a transatlantic ring to it); typically "Senior Consultant" or some such, I guess - you could always refer to "Sir Lancelot Sprat" (for anyone who's seen Doctor in the House, that is)

Next question:

If a ward in a hospital has more patients than beds, do you referre to it as being "overcrowded", or is there a special medical term for owercrowded wards?

Tongue in cheek, I would say the term is "Typical"  :P

In the UK you wouldn't refer to the "senior physician" (it has a bit of a transatlantic ring to it); typically "Senior Consultant" or some such, I guess - you could always refer to "Sir Lancelot Sprat" (for anyone who's seen Doctor in the House, that is)


I think they are either American or Australians or Dutch (speaking english). :-)

I think they are either American or Australians or Dutch (speaking english). :-)


Hey! I take offense to 1/3 of that comment! ;)

Hey! I take offense to 1/3 of that comment! ;)


I take offense to 2/3 of it, if you get my drift Luke  ;D ;)

Is "Senior Physician in charge" the correct way to referre to the "Top Dog" among the Senior Physicians on a ward? Or, again, is there some special medical term for that position?

If this were a military hospital the SPIC (Senior Physician in Charge) would probably be refered to the HMFWIC.    ;D
Whereas a department head would likely be referred to as the MFWIC.  ::)

If this were a military hospital the SPIC (Senior Physician in Charge) would probably be refered to the HMFWIC.    ;D
Whereas a department head would likely be referred to as the MFWIC.  ::)



Care to expand on those abbreviations?