In The UK... Is The Word "Hospital" A Verb?

[arwalden]

In the U.S. we might hear "My mother is in the hospital. I'm going to the hospital to visit her."

The U.K. equivalent appears to be: "My mother is in hospital. I'm going to hospital to visit her."

Am I missing something?

-- Allen

[donco6]

1. No definite article

It's not a verb, but they don't use the definite article like we do.

"to hospital" not "to THE hospital."

[SoCalDem]

3. Like "going to school"

we don't say.. "Mom, I'm going to be late for the school "..:evilgrin:

[donco6]

10. Oh, I never thought of that!

It is the same. Funny how you can overlook something like that - I work for a school!

[arwalden]

11. Schooling, Schooled... these are valid words.

But Hospitaling, Hospitaled? Not words.

Hospitalizing is a word though.

Hmmm. Words and their usage can be funny, odd, and very strange things.

Thanks for your reply though. Your explanation/example makes a lot of sense... and I think it's definitely the closest to being dead-on target as the most likely one.

-- Allen

[mrfrapp]

6. Huh?

I'm a UK citizen and I've never heard anyone omit the "The" when
talking of the hospital. What part of the UK are you thinking of?

[Skittles]

8. oh I've heard AND read it

from Brits. Same in Australia.

[arwalden]

9. Wherever It Is That "Hyacinth Bucket" Lives...

... also I've heard Judi Dench (as Jean Pargetter in "As Time Goes By") say it that way.

Thanks for all the feedback, folks.

-- Allen

[JustinCredible]

2. Yeah,

"The". :)

Okay,now that I'm done amusing myself.... I think that in a few other languages... words like that are omitted and it isn't considered to be a mistake. Instead, it's more like shorthand...

I know this is true at least for asl.

:)

[Heddi]

4. well I'm not British

(but I hope to be as soon as I become a nurse :) )

But I figured that they use 'hospital' the same way we say 'home'---

We say: My mom is at home
Not: My mom is at the home
or: My mom is at her home (unless being specific)

Or other examples:

We say: I'm going to City Hall
Not: I'm going to the city hall

We say: I'm going to work
Not: I'm going to the work
or: I'm going to my work (again, unless being specific)

[JohnKleeb]

5. Allen :) you know how the brits are

Now if you excuse me I will be heading for beach in two hours heh.

[rock]

7. Any noun can be verbed

ANy verb can be nouned. Hospital in Brit-speak (as well as holiday) is often used as an adverb (like home).