[Vocabulary] eyesight-related vocabulary

[nyota]

Let's say you're short-sighted and you need to wear glasses or contacts. How to say what kind of correction you need?

My ...... is -3,5.

 

[nyota]

Nobody wears glasses? ;-)

 

[Rover_KE]

Nobody wears glasses? ;-)

Most of us wear glasses, nyota, but hardly any of us understand our optical prescriptions.

Personally, my right eye is better than my left and my eyesight is better for distance than reading.

That's all I know about it, and all I need to know.

Rover

 

[engee30]

Let's say you're short-sighted and you need to wear glasses or contacts. How to say what kind of correction you need?

My ...... is -3,5.

I think you could say:
I'm (minus) 3.5 dioptres in my left eye and (minus) 4 in my right eye.

Also:
I need (minus) 3.5-dioptre lenses in my left eye and (minus) 4-dioptre ones in the other.
or
I need lenses of (minus) 3.5 dioptres in my left eye and lenses of (minus) 4 dioptres in the other.

In the case when both your eyes are of the same dioptric value, you might say:
I'm (minus) 4 dioptres in both (my) eyes.

 

[nyota]

Thanks engee30. What if I'd like to ask somebody a question (assuming the context's known) without referring to dioptres. Or even if I was to use the word, what would be the best way to use it?

What dioptres do you wear/have? How many dioptres do you have?
What are your corrective lenses values/powers?
What's your gradation?

I mean, there *has* to be a pretty common way of asking about it even if you're not an expert and you don't really know or need to know what the numbers are.

 

[5jj]

I mean, there *has* to be a pretty common way of asking about it even if you're not an expert and you don't really know or need to know what the numbers are.

I don't think that there is a 'pretty common way' in BrE. I am with Rover - most of us don't understand these things, and we don't talk about them in any detailed way. Really!

engee may be right when he says, "I think you could say: I'm (minus) 3.5 dioptres in my left eye and (minus) 4 in my right eye.", but I have never heard anyone saying anything like that. Indeed, I have to admit that if you had asked me out of the blue what unit was used, I would not have remembered the word 'dioptres'.

 

[nyota]

How interesting. You see, I kept going on about it because in Polish you'd hear the question quite often (once you've started talking about glasses). Most people recognise 1.0 is no big deal while 6.0 is quite a lot. So I assumed there must be a common way of asking about it in English too. Assume nothing! But you're right, it's not something you really need to know.

 

[engee30]

How interesting. You see, I kept going on about it because in Polish you'd hear the question quite often (once you've started talking about glasses). Most people recognise 1.0 is no big deal while 6.0 is quite a lot. So I assumed there must be a common way of asking about it in English too. Assume nothing! But you're right, it's not something you really need to know.

So, going downstream with the others participating in this discussion, I'd advise you, nyota, to use the following appropriately:

I'm nearsighted/shortsighted. (a person saying this is sure to be wearing a pair of glasses with lenses of the negative power of dioptres; used by a person with myopia, ie nearsightedness/shortsightedness)

I'm farsighted/longsighted. (a person saying this is certain to be wearing a pair of glasses with lenses of the positive power of dioptres; used by a person with hyperopia, ie farsightedness/longsightedness)

PS. But for my younger brother, I'd have never known what dioptr(i)e is.

 

[nyota]

I'm farsighted/longsighted. (a person saying this is certain to be wearing a pair of glasses with lenses of the positive power of dioptres; used by a person with hyperopia, ie farsightedness/longsightedness)

A-ha! So the word 'power' is somehow in use.

Also, I've just googled something that might work quite nicely and that sends us back to 'prescription':

For people with strong prescriptions, high index plastic lenses are a great choice.
No one will ever guess how strong your prescription really is!

So a simple How strong is your prescription should suffice. :-D

Engee30, I know what you mean. A lot of bats in my family, so I did know the word but I hardly ever use it.

 

[engee30]

Engee30, I know what you mean. A lot of bats in my family, so I did know the word but I hardly ever use it.

:up: Yes, and in my case, the only moments when I hear someone using such sophisticated vocabulary about glasses are when my brother comes back from his optician (once every six months or so) and informs us all of the progress or regress of his problematic eyesight.

 

[Barb_D]

Is the idea of 20/20 vision only in the US?

"Perfect" vision is 20/20. The more near-sighted you are, the higher the second number. I think you can drive without corrective lenses if you're 20/35 or so. After that, you have to have lenses (glasses or contacts) to legally drive.

I'm 20/400, which (if it couldn't be corrected) would be considered legally blind. Fortunately, I correct right on down to 20/20.

I would never say "My contact lenses are 7.5 diopeters" (however you spell it) unless I was ordering my lenses, but I do say "I'm 20/400 without my contacts in" and most people realize that I'm about blind as a bat. Though I hear that may be a misnomer.

 

[nyota]

I've never heard of 20/20 vision before, good to know, thanks Barb_D! Here's what I found on the net in relation to that (I'm only spamming it because of the language used and the relation between 20/x system and dioptres):

The 20/x number does not directly relate to the eyeglass prescription required to correct vision, because it does not specify the nature of the problem with the lens.

I cant even see the big 20/200 E with either or both eyes. I have about -4.5 diopters of myopia with very slight irregular astigmistim.

--> astigmatism*

I'm only 20, and currently at a -14 prescription. I'm not sure what it is on the 20/XX scale, but I do know that I'm 20/400+.

 

[5jj]

Is the idea of 20/20 vision only in the US?

I understand '20/20 vision' to be perfect, though I am not sure how I would write it. '20/35' and '20/400' are meaningless to me.

On a slightly different, but not totally irrelevant, topic, I amazed an American friend last year. She asked me if I had any problems in getting my annual medical check-up in Prague. When I told her that I did not have an annual medical check-up, and that I had been to a doctor only once in the last twenty years, she thought I was joking.

British people, I feel, do not take the scientific interest in our eyesight that many others do, though of course we wear glasses. I also feel that British adult males, so long as they feel healthy, are not as interested in the state of their health as many other people.

I suppose I may be wrongly imagining that most British males are like me, but I don't think so. Few of the British men I know ever talk about going to the doctor.

A final point: this is relevant in a language forum. If we don't talk about these things, then the only answer to "How do you say ....? is, "We don't".

 

[birdeen's call]

It's surprising that people don't have the vocabulary to talk about this. I understandable that word like "dioptre" (I wouldn't have known how to spell it either) may be unknown or easily forgotten. But most of people I know would, I believe, be able to say that "-3.5 is pretty bad" or "+0.5 is alright."

 

[5jj]

But most of people I know would, I believe, be able to say that "-3.5 is pretty bad" or "+0.5 is alright."

Most people, most Britsh people or most Polish people?

 

[birdeen's call]

Most people, most Britsh people or most Polish people?

Most Polish people. And it's only a conjecture. I haven't talked about it to every person I knew, but I surely talked to a fair number and I don't remember ever having trouble communicating these things.