I sometimes study this phrase. I’m suspicious of its usage. It seems to harbor questions that I’m either unable or not allowed to ask.
If I tell you that rubbing salt in your eyes is not recommended, should you take this as a warning to avoid rubbing salt in your eyes? Or is to be interpreted that I promote something else to rub in your eyes?
Not advised is no better. Ill-advised doesn’t seem to do the job for me either. In fact, on-line dictionary (Webster’s) defines the often-used medical term, contraindicated, as:
Not advised as a course of treatment or procedure.
I know how to interpret contraindicated in a medical sense, and the literal meaning of its prefix contra, is against. Now we’re getting somewhere, but the online definition given above seems to weaken it. Again, “not advised” is no better than not recommended.
In Blakiston’s Gould Medical Dictionary, a contraindication is:
Any condition, especially any condition of disease, which renders some particular line of treatment improper or undesirable.
In Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary, a contraindication is:
A symptom, indication, or condition in which a remedy or a method of treatment is inadvisable or improper.
I find that other meanings for contraindication include “imprudent or unwise medical treatments.” To me, these seem to be improvements and much more definite than not advised or not recommended. However, is the typical patient able to carry around a copy of Dorland’s or Blakiston’s and be able to distill the interpretations that signify:
Bad Medicine!
Dangerous!
Poisonous!
This Will Hurt You!
Don’t Do This!
This is Stupid!
I need to hear,
Disadvised: To advise against; to dissuade from. Dissuade.
But still, simpler language is needed.
Perhaps, I can explain my linguistics dilemma better with the following story:
Across the street from me lives a nurse who is taking coursework to become a nurse practitioner. Her mother tongue is Spanish and she, unlike her perfectly fluent bilingual son and daughter, struggles with speaking to my thoroughly English ear. However, we can converse on medical subjects reasonably well.
She recently volunteered that her family uses the services of a privately practicing medical doctor, Alonzo, who I’ve known of for a while. She also mentioned that Alonzo “does not recommend” the so-called Covid Vaccine.
I attempted to pin her down by asking, “Does Doctor Alonzo recommend against the vaccine?” And she answered with: “He absolutely does not recommend it.” [This is absolutely unclear… and skirts what I need to know about this doctor.] As I realized I was getting nowhere, I dropped the subject and pondered it for a few days.
I want to know if Alonzo understands that the vaccine is worthless and dangerous and if he, hence, is against it. Is he merely not promoting it OR is he telling his patients, “Avoid this?” There is a large, but often overlooked, chasm between these two possible situations.
Again, I need to hear that Alonzo IS AGAINST the vaccine and not merely not recommending it. This is a sticking point for me.
Another possibility: Alonzo is fence sitting for the purposes of appearing agreeable to the medical authorities and is fearful to appear definitively opposed to the vaccine. In the present fascistic medical environment, I can appreciate and forgive this.
Dissuade and disadvised, at least to me, are not commonly heard words and may not be suitable for the ear of the typical patient. Better yet is to replace not recommended with recommended against or advised against. At least, this would help me.