Doctor’s Appointment

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi.

Hi, who’s this?

This is Jane from Indianapolis, Indiana.

Hi, Jane. Welcome. What can we help you with?

Well, I was typing an email, actually, to a friend, and we were trying to get schedules together,

And I told her no to that date because I have a doctor’s appointment.

And as I started to key in doctors, I was completely flummoxed as to what I should do for the spelling.

Because is it plural doctors? Is it possessive doctors?

And I realized, why do we say doctor’s appointment?

As opposed to what? Doctor’s appointment instead of?

Well, you know, if I had an appointment with an attorney, I would say I have an appointment with an attorney.

I wouldn’t say I have an attorney’s appointment.

That’s true.

Oh, would you have an appointment with an attorney or a meeting?

Well, that’s possible, too, or a meeting.

Also, I thought about it, and actually I do use it with dentists.

Also, I would say I have a dentist appointment.

But if I had an appointment with a CPA or with an accountant,

I would not say I have an accountant’s appointment.

I would say I have an appointment with an accountant.

That’s right.

And I didn’t know if it was because maybe, you know, we think of our doctors more personally,

And it’s more of a familiar thing, whereas I would say an attorney, not my attorney.

That is so interesting, and I’m seeing the white coats.

You know, you would never say I’m going to a dentist meeting.

Interesting.

And the same for a veterinarian as well, right?

Veterinarian’s appointment.

Oh, that’s true.

A vet appointment, right?

Yeah.

And I talked with some of my friends and kind of to feel out how they, you know, say it, too.

And most of them say the same thing, would say, I have a doctor’s appointment.

Well, this sounds like a good question.

My best guess is that it’s what we call in the dictionary business lexicalized,

Which is it kind of becomes the set-pat way to say it because of habit and perpetuation

And not because of forethought or any really great logic.

It’s just that’s the way it is.

And I know that’s ridiculous, but an incredible amount of language is just like it is because it’s like it is.

It’s very circular.

I’ll be darned.

See, I was wondering if there was some, maybe that it was even regional, you know, to Indiana.

And I’m from Ohio originally, but have actually had relatives that had been born and raised in Indiana.

And so I thought maybe it was a regional thing.

Well, doctor’s appointment is fairly universal.

If you look in the big corpora, these massive quantities of text, you’ll find that that’s pretty much what everyone says.

I have a doctor’s appointment.

They might put the apostrophe in a different place, but everyone has one.

But lawyer’s appointment is actually incredibly rare.

Most people have a meeting with a lawyer or a lawyer’s meeting.

I was going to say, you’re a client for the lawyer rather than a patient.

There’s kind of a difference there about whether or not you’re having business or whether or not you’re having something done to you.

Are you working together with this person that you’re meeting with, or are they going to do something for you or to you?

Here’s another thought.

You know, you got notes for doctor’s appointments when you were a kid.

You know, you probably didn’t get appointments for a lawyer, you know, that you gave to your teacher.

You know, gave him a note and said, oh, I have an appointment with my, but, you know, a doctor’s appointment.

I mean, there’s something sort of, I don’t know.

When I think about my schooling, I think about it being almost kind of hush-hush and special, sort of in the same way that you’d say, I’m on long distance.

I mean, who cares if you’re on long distance now?

But it was special.

I love this idea.

Please excuse Ms. Barnette because she had a bankruptcy yesterday and could not attend classes.

I love that, too.

I was a kid entrepreneur, you know?

Yeah, yeah.

The lemonade stand went bust.

They closed the lemonade stand.

You know what, Jane?

You’ve got a lot to think about.

This is genuinely food for thought.

I’m fertilizing my brain.

The nitrogen levels are through the roof.

So no suggestion as to how I spell this in the future.

Oh, well, that’s easy enough.

Doctor’s appointment should probably be singular possessive.

Yes.

D-O-C-T-O-R apostrophe yes, doctor’s appointment.

Unless you’re going to several.

Yeah, unless you’re going to several at once.

They’ve gone to the Mayo Clinic and everyone there is going to treat you.

So go ahead and use that it’s the possessive.

Yeah, that’s the best way.

Okay.

Okay, well, thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

It was fun talking with you guys.

Our pleasure, Jane.

Same here, Jane.

Thank you so much.

-huh.

Bye-bye.

And let’s throw it out to everyone else who’s listening.

Yeah, who ever thought about that?

Do you have an opinion on why we say doctor’s appointment instead of an appointment with a doctor?

Or why is that a set-pat phrase in English?

Don’t you love this when people call us and make us think about something we never, ever thought about before?

I do.

877-929-9673 or email us words@waywordradio.org.