At the doctor’s and in hospital

Eleventh on this list is la farmacia di turno, and the two words that carry it are di turno. A turno is a turn in a rota, so la farmacia di turno is the chemist’s whose turn it is to stay open and il medico di turno the doctor on the shift now running. English says « on duty » or « on call », and the phrases line up well enough that a reader may stop there. That would be a mistake, because di turno does a second job « on duty » cannot do at all. Hung on almost any noun, it means: whichever one it happens to be this time. L’esperto di turno is the expert wheeled out for today’s programme, la polemica di turno this week’s row, il nemico di turno whoever is being blamed at the moment. The tone is weary and faintly dismissive, and it is very common in newspapers and in speech. So one small phrase covers a hospital rota and a shrug, and English has nothing single for the second half — only « the latest », « this week’s » or « whoever it is this time ».