English language question

[VJ]

Hello,

I'm working on a website for my brother's pharmacy, and have a translation problem...

How does one generally call the pharmacy/doctor/... where you go to when all the others are closed (at night)?

In Dutch, it is "Wachtdiensten".
In French, it is "Services de garde".

The dictionary gives me: "guard duty"
Can you than say "Pharmacists on guard duty"?
(or is that when they standing guard next to their pharmacy )
Does it have a plural?


Jörg

[Sasq]

in Oz I think we generally call them 'Night Chemist'
assuming there is no doctor on duty, then maybe its a 'Night Clinic'

[cjolley]

I don't know if there is a standardized name here in the US.
"All Night Pharmacy" would be understood by most people.

[Dr Mordrid]

CJ is correct. That's one that'll be unserstood in all regions. That or "24 hr. pharmacy".

Dr. Mordrid

[VJ]

The idea is to have a webpage on which the various professions 'on duty' would be listed.
Allnight and 24h are not exactly true: the ones on duty are only on duty during weekends and holidays; at night one has to go via the police to learn who is on duty.

I chatted with Sasq, and he suggested:

Duty roster (for the page)
And then sections for: Pharmacists on duty / Doctors on duty / ... / night procedure

Alternatively, he thought of
Out of hours (for the page)
and than similar sections as above.

I kind of like the sound of it...


Jörg

[Jessterw]

"Out of hours" sounds odd to me. Wouldn't evening or night roster work better? Alternatively "After hours" might work as well (again, from a US perspective).

[VJ]

And the 'duty roster'... How does that sound?
(this was the one I liked best)


Jörg

[KvHagedorn]

Wouldn't that be "pusher?"

[Jessterw]

And the 'duty roster'... How does that sound?
(this was the one I liked best)

Ah, duty roster more than makes sense here.

[TnT]

Wouldn't that be "pusher?"

aka Street Pharmacist

@VJ

"Duty roster" makes sense, although I don't think I've ever heard that outside a miltary setting.

[Gurm]

"Out of Hours" is a distinctly non-American turn of speech. I get it, but 99% of the idiots on the street? Not so much.

"After Hours" sounds seedy. Like the pharmacy closes and then reopens with shady guys selling you cut-rate oxycontin from the back door.

24 Hour works well for a description of when it's open. As in "24 hour pharmacy" or "All night pharmacy".

In terms of the shift?

Second Shift, Third Shift... those tend to refer to the time worked. First shift is normal business hours 9-5 or 7-3 or whatever. Second shift is afternoon->late night, and third shift is sometimes called the "graveyard shift" or the "redeye". LATE night until morning.

"Duty Roster" is probably fine, although it sounds very military. Maybe "nighttime personnel"?

[Jessterw]

After speaking with Sasq about it as well, "Out of Hours" does indeed fit. It was my mistake in what you were after, in that I wasn't thinking in terms of evening and required non-business hours/days.

[KvHagedorn]

Yes, "Out of Hours" is profoundly Britspeak. If this is meant for English readers, fine, but for Americans it would be 24 hour pharmacy.

[Jessterw]

Ah but KvH, in this case, 24 hour pharmacy wouldn't make sense. What VJ is talking about is a listing of places where one can obtain aforementioned services on the days or hours that the places where the services are normally provided are not (or something like that).

[Wombat]

Depending on the schedule, that sounds like "off-hour(s)" services.