Is it really a prick?

[Tooobvious]

Why are healthcare workers trained nowadays to say "just a little scratch" when they’re about to give an injection or take blood? It’s not a scratch at all, it’s a prick, which is what they used to call it.

AIBU to think they’re just too scared to say "a little prick" because they think it sounds rude or the start of a coarse joke?

YABU - it’s perfectly OK to call it a scratch even though it isn't one really
YANBU - they’re being over-sensitive and should call it a prick

It has not evolved into something else at all, unless you are scanning the passing of millennia.
For at least as long as we’ve been speaking English, ‘prick’ has had two meanings, and very jolly has been all the fun this has occasioned (ask Shakespeare).

Whatever about that; I only answered because I always get a red mist descending when I read of language having ‘evolved’ so that X now means Y, and all that Jazz.
In almost all these cases, it’s anything but evolved. Regressed, maybe.
Some verb which expresses loss such as we see now that this ‘evolution’ is responsible the death of punctuation, of reliable spelling, and the acceptable disregard for meaning (eg infer = imply / discreet = discrete/ etc; even the apparent abolition of past participles! 😤🤬

I’ve just realised that this is a perfect opportunity to claim that I have been (forgive me, Father) triggered. At last!

(I hope you know this waffle isn't really serious.)

Oh, not that then. I must have seen re-runs!

Glad I could help:)

😂

YANBU. It feels nothing like a scratch, so I find it weird when they say this too. It’s not good imo, as misinformation can cause a lack of trust in healthcare workers.

Yeah I never look (always a real bugger of a job to get a vein up; I’ve a huge black splotch on my inner elbow at the moment that’s two weeks old!), and Im sure the last time I was warned about how the needle might feel must have been during childhood.
But this thread makes me think ‘scratch’ fits better than ‘prick’, if I had to approximate the sensation. ‘Prick’ makes me think of a far more trivial feeling than ‘scratch’ (like you might do to a fingertip when sewing, and the other is swift scratch from a cat)) but of course neither is definitive.
There are probably people for whom ‘burn ‘ or ‘tickle’ fits the bill!

But regardless of the superiority of one or other of OP’s terms, I do think it’s very important to preserve the common usage of ‘prick’ as in ‘pin prick’.
Just because the average Yahoo (or many a giggly MNer!) hears only ‘dick’ when the word is used is no reason to shelve it!
We are chucking away far too many necessary words owing to the pressure of either incorrect usage or incorrect comprehension as it is!

< rant ends>

Oh man, surely not! Resist this moronification of our most excellent language.

I do think it would be a shame to lose this meaning of the word prick and I wouldn’t want it avoided as people want to be offended by a word that has two meanings even though the context is clear. But I can imagine nurses might be sick of some men using it as an opportunity to be crude. And being responsive to the anxieties of many patients over injections and how different language could be received by them can also be a good reason not to use it in this particular context.

No idea who complained,we were just told on a training day, not to say prick, anymore. Good job they the offended, can't hear DH and I gardening and pruning the many roses, they don't just scratch you! Especially if you happen to tread on the thorns that puncture your boots!

Fine, don’t say prick, but scratch is an awful choice. It’s the kind of inaccuracy that sends a brain into an automatically antagonistic state. Imprecise speech at a time when a person should be relaxing to minimize pain is bad medical practice.

My dentist says "you'll feel a little pinch" when he gives me a shot...

’just a little prick’ would make me smirk

If anything, you should be offended that the patient is trying to sexualise your job with their filthy mind.

I had bloods taken today and the nurse advised 'a small scratch' and that's exactly what it felt like.

Some nurses are better than others

Absolutely totally agree with you, and I've been banging on about this for years.
The 'prick' thing was used when I worked in the NHS a long time ago, and it was even a joke in an episode of Minder (showing my age).

Agreed. You are not being unreasonable.

'Scratch' is to 'score or mark the surface of (something) with a sharp or pointed object.' It makes me think of the nurse dragging the tip of the needle firmly over my skin, leaving a welt with broken skin. Nothing at all like what happens!

'Prick' is to 'make a small hole in (something) with a sharp point; pierce slightly.' Literally exactly what is happening with an injection or blood draw.

If silly people want to giggle about 'teehee, PENIS!' then I'd suggest either 'a small pin prick' or perhaps even better, the vague, 'a slight discomfort' as it can feel different to everyone. But 'a little scratch' is just inaccurate.

I had to keep telling a cousin of 97, that she couldn't say certain words anymore, mainly to do with skin colour. When I was a kid in the 50s, "spunk or spunky" meant brave, bold courageous, like my parents, grandparents describing the war.

They are probably sick of people making the same boring ‘little prick’ joke twenty times a day. Or, scratch sounds lighter snd gentler than prick.

I've only ever had them say 'sharp scratch' I think it's pretty descriptive of the pain. It's not dissimilar ime to the hot stinging feeling if you catch yourself on a splinter or bramble and actually scratch yourself enough to draw blood.

I did respond to 'you'll just feel a little sting' for local anaesthetic with 'no, it's going to bloody hurt!' and got a smile and a brisk 'oh, you've had a local before then!' as she stabbed what felt like liquid fire into may arm 😂

It would make me feel inadequate🤣🤣🤣

Been in healthcare 20 years.
Have only ever heard/said "sharp scratch" anything prick related sounds a bit Carry On.

I did once ask a VERY attractive patient to "give me a finger" so I could put a says probe on. My crewmate nearly passed out from trying not to laugh.

Well when my cat scratches me it's far more painful than most injections I've had. Calling it a prick or a scratch is irrelevant.

Once had a nurse who made such a big deal about how much dd's injection was going to hurt that dd, who is normally fine with them starred to get upset. I had to tell the nurse that was enough. I find it hard to fathom how people become so hysterical over an injection, how on earth do they cope with every day spikes like roses or brambles...or bastard cats.

Sharp scratch works well for me. It feels manageable.

FGS
The world has gone totally f ing mad