a little light relief - on the distinction between signs and symptoms

[Guest guest]

From a learned colleague in another place. Enjoy :-)

Sue

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signs and symptoms

While the accepted definition of " signs " is symptoms noticed by the

doctor is " correct " , I find it dubious and prefer to think of " signs

and symptoms " as a catch-all phrase.

Medical students may well be taught such a distinction, but I feel

that it is spurious.

However, I'll go along with " signs of illness/disease " .

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If you have to translate what you have given, I would write " signs

of disease are sometimes referred to as objective as opposed to

symptoms (subjective) " otherwise it is nonsense to call

symptoms " subjective " . If that were true, how would one

interpret " objective symptoms " ?

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This underlines the fact that doctors may well use a subset of

English which is not used by the general public. So whether you call

something a sign or a symptom is a matter of linguistic taste. The

Oxford dictionary does admittedly suggest that a modern view of

symptoms is that they are observed by the patient, but this has

never occurred to me and I don't see that purpose this distinction

serves. A symptom or sign to me is an observation, whoever makes it.

However, I think the contrast to a " medical point of view " is

a " scientific point of view " since medicine is after all not a

scientific discipline.