L.A. Speak / Paramedics

autoped n.: traffic accident involving a pedestrian

C&D; abbr.: clean and dress (bandage) a wound. “The car knocked the kid off his bike, but he had a helmet on so we just had to C&D; his elbow.’

circle the drain v.: victim is in extremely serious condition, near death. “I thought he was circling the drain, but he pulled through.”

DFO abbr.: done fell out--suddenly lose consciousness. “This guy was walking down the street and, wham, he DFO’d right on the sidewalk.

ETOH abbr.: suspected drunkenness--short for ethyl alcohol. “We got a guy in an autoped suffering from ETOH. I think he’s headed for the Graybar Hotel.”

frequent flyer n.: habitual 911 caller with no symptoms. rel. ACT n. suspected fake complaint, pronounced A-C-T so as not to alert malingerer. “She says she’s got chest pains, but I think we got a little A-C-T going on here.”

Graybar Hotel n.: prison

GSW abbr.: gunshot wound

meat wagon n.: ambulance

paramagics n.: insult bestowed by firefighters upon paramedics who get too full of themselves. syn. paragods.

TNT abbr.: through ‘n’ through. Bullet or foreign object that passes completely through the body. “I got a GSW to the chest, TNT.”

zap-’em v.: defibrillate the heart. “We had to zap-’em 200 watt seconds.”