Referring to inoculations as jabs

Jabs always jars a little with me and so does the word op. Even a small operation is pretty traumatic for the person undergoing it but calling it an op makes it sound so trivial, like having a splinter removed.

Well, some of them are inoculations and then there is vaccination and 'jabs' covers both. And people do play down (trivialise) things of great moment in their lives as a way of coping with them.

I can be very pedantic when it comes to the correct or incorrect use of English, but the word 'jab' doesn't worry me: it is just useful shorthand. Come to think of it, I had my tetanus 'jab' a couple of weeks ago and it didn't hurt a bit.

(Gardeners like me really should keep up with their tetanus shots; you only need one every 10 years, but tetanus can be prevented this way. If you do not have this protection, tetanus can kill)

Jabs is four letters. Inoculations and vaccinations are both much longer words.

Short words fit better in headlines. Of course they're going to say jabs.

I expect we'll all be getting our flu jabs this autumn....

Lol. Even with plastic teeth for most of my life, I still can't think of sitting comfortable in a high back reclining chair!

Can't say I'd given it any thought until now but it doesn't bother me. Inoculation and vaccination are hard words to remember and jab seems to do the trick. I can be pedantic at times but I'm ok with this particular substitution.

I can't see any problem with the word 'jab'. After all the needle is 'jabbed' into your arm, or whatever, in the case of inoculations or vaccinations (and yes - I know vaccinations are 'scratches'). As these words tend to be interchangeable these days, 'jab' seems to cover all situations.