Marks of the trade

In any sub-culture or field, there are codes that people use to identify with each other. As a second-year med students (the sophomores of med school), I feel on the cusp of cool -- we're beginning to learn clinical stuff (as opposed to those poor first-years mired in basic science), we think we've figured out med school, and yet we're still stuck in the library instead of on the floors, in the academic rather than clinical years of med school.

So to make myself feel cooler--and for efficiency as the workload has increased--and because they actual make sense to me now, I've started to pick up medical abbreviations:

The causes of aseptic meningitis? HSV-2, HIV, VZV, LCM, EBV, and CMV, among others (and yes, I know what those stand for)

The write-up of a disease? Well, you have to know the Sx, Si, Dx, and Tx

Just wait: soon my handwriting will be abysmal.