When I sold this 1902 KEVII official stamp on eBay, I described it as having a "bold full-date upright Liverpool cancel" and mentioned to the winning bidder that it had a "ditzel" that might be removed to enhance the cosmetic appearance, though it wouldn't add to the substantial monetary value.
The new owner (in Glasgow) messaged me back his pleasure re the stamp but asked for clarification on the word "ditzel," which was new to him. This surprised me, as I have used the term my entire adult life, so I did some research. I couldn't find it in my OED, nor in my Random House dictionary. Thence to the internet, where I found this in a StackExchange post about orthography, asking whether "ditzel" is a "real word":
"When I was a Cardiology fellow at UMass Medical Center, there was a technician who would use a certain word to mean "a little". It sounded like /a ditzle/. I never asked her how it was spelled and later when I tried to look for the spelling in dictionaries, I never found it. The context would be something like: "Can you see any regurgitation on the screen?", "Just a "ditzle", meaning "very little"." ...[a reply]: "Although not found in Dorland's Medical Dictionary, the term ditzel is universally recognized among radiologists as a very small nodule found in the lung. ... The origins of this word are obscure." [Mundsen RF, Hess KR. “Ditzels” on Chest CT: Survey of Members of the Society of Thoracic Radiology. AJR 2001; 176:1363-1369.]
Since I spent 30 professional years examining chest xrays with radiologists, that may be where I picked up the term, but it's not unique to radiology. Again, from the StackExchange post:
"In surgery we use the term "ditzel" to mean "a little nothing" or a piece of small, inconsequential tissue. For example, surgeon wipes instrument on sponge, leaving small globule of tissue. Nurse asks "Is this a specimen?", surgeon replies "No, just a ditzel. " Meaning it's nothing, junk, unknown and can be ignored."
I passed that observation on to an experienced pathologist, who said that in pathology laboratories, specimens are occasionally sorted into categories for examination: surgical specimens, small biopsies, and the incidental "ditzels."
So, it is a "real word," in the category of jargon.
Jargon or technical language is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually a particular occupation (that is, a certain trade, profession, vernacular or academic field), but any ingroup can have jargon.
Lots more interesting information, and many examples (with links to jargon glossaries), at that Wikipedia link.
Question for readers: in your experience, does the term "ditzel" extend beyond the medical field to other professional or technical areas? Just curious.
I'm surprised that this relatively modern stamp would be valuable. May I ask what is the "substantial monetary value?" Just curious.
ReplyDeleteThe 1p stamp was common in 1902 and still is. But the "O.W." overprint ("Office of Works") is very uncommon, raising the "catalogue" value from $1 to over $200. The winning bidder paid $40, which was a good deal for both of us.
DeleteIs the OW for stamps issued to the Office of Works to be used for official business?
ReplyDeleteyes
DeleteNever heard that word, sounds yiddish.
ReplyDeleteYup, I was going to say the same. In German (including varieties like Yiddish) -el is a diminutive ending, but I'm not sure what a ditz could be.
Delete"but I'm not sure what a ditz could be."
DeleteIt's a um, anti-compliment
"You have what I call a ditzel."
ReplyDeletehttps://aphysiciansguidetohealth.wordpress.com/2014/10/04/ditzels/
Never heard the word. Would have been fun to use the term in my math classes to refer to the useless bits of information we insert into word problems. I could have created a whole generation of people using the word. Darn...
Appears to be radiology-specific in usage: https://radiopaedia.org/articles/ditzel?lang=us#:~:text=A%20ditzel%20is%20an%20informal,indeterminate%20small%20pulmonary%20nodules%201.
ReplyDeleteA radiology site on the internet describing something as being widely used by radiiologists does not make the term radiology-specific. Here is the term being used on a dermatology site -
Deletehttps://www.dermatologytimes.com/view/significance-serenity-prayer-and-patient-satisfaction
and on a pathology site -
https://basicmedicalkey.com/ditzels/
I'm wondering if the term has metastasized to astrophotography and other professions.
Point taken. "Medicine-specific" would have been better. In any case, I like it when words fly out of their esoteric cages and perch among we mortals and peasants.
DeleteI've heard of the word "ditz," meaning someone who's scatterbrained or stupid. And carrying on: "he's really ditzy."
ReplyDeleteNot familiar to me, and I worked in the chip business with common dimensions in the nanometer range. In the chip business, a “ditzel” on a chip or a mask would almost certainly be a synonym for “failure”.
ReplyDeleteI might adopt it for 'dead pixel' on a display.
ReplyDeleteThat would be appropriate. :-)
DeleteIn German a "Bisserl" is a bit, a small piece, or similar. It wouldn't be hard to mispronounce "Bisserl" as "ditzel", especially in anglicizing the word, possibly as when used by Yiddish immigrants.
ReplyDeleteIn Vorarlberg (most western state in Austria, bordering Switzerland and Liechtenstein) a "bitzle" means something small, a little bid...
Deletehttps://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_Vorarlberger_Dialektausdr%C3%BCcke