response to Klass

In the article Learning the Language, author Klass describes the language and jargon of the medical discourse community. Klass explains the inner struggles of adapting to this language. The author felt as if some of the expressions used were ethically incorrect in a way, and had inner struggle using some of the jargon (ex: nitrate "players," CTD "circling the drain."

Another struggle comes into play when the author tries to speak with their mother about work procedures and experiences. I feel that the author included this story about their mother to almost sympathize with the fact that the audience didn't know what these expressions meant either, so the mother was someone in which the audience can relate.

The other character mentioned was "Mr. Eponym." This was a character who was so into using medical phrases and jargon that his colleagues nicknamed him as such. I feel that this character was used in the passage to further show the inner conflict. The author was proud of the fact that they were picking up on the language, but still did not feel completely comfortable referring to patients as "players" and other such names. By including both people in and out of the discourse community, it further help to explain the struggle of adapting into the medical community, for ethical and comprehensive reasons.