Legend has it that writer Sylvia Wright misheard the lyrics to "The Bonny Earl of Murray" when she was a child. The actual lyrics are "Thou have slain the Earl of Murray and laid him on the green", but what she heard was "Thou have slain the Earl of Murray and Lady Mondegreen". And the mondegreen was born.
Fortunately, these aren't limited to songs ("'Scuse me while I kiss this guy"). Medical mondegreens abound. Some like Old Timers' Disease (Alzheimer's) are quite descriptive, but wrong nonetheless.
Yesterday a patient told me that his legs always swelled because of his very close veins (varicose veins).
Another patient came to my office complaining of pain at her biblical hernia (umbilical). Fortunately the fireballs in her eucharist (fibroids in her uterus) didn't bother her.
Some are a bit harder to decipher. It took me a good 5 minutes to figure out that the lady with "65 roses" actually had cystic fibrosis. And the little girl with Smilin' Mighty Jesus really was suffering from spinal meningitis.
Stories about general surgery, trauma surgery, dumb patients, dumb doctors, and dumb shit from the dumb world around us.
Monday, 14 November 2011
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Not dead
I'll start this post by answering a few questions that may or may not be burning in your mind: No, I'm not dead. No, I didn't g...
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EDIT: New and improved version, now with 83 of your favourite myths. Ooooooh boy. I have no idea what kind of rabbit hole I'm entering...
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EDIT: 75 myths now updated to 82. If you are reading this, chances are that you repeated an anti-vaccine myth or said you weren't vacc...
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God damn it, here we go again. Another goddamned rabbit hole, and another goddamned long-ass post that no one will likely read, care about...
The little girl -- had she been listening to Ween? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXV71xzDdJE
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletehttp://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8lvtgQ72E1qbjxp0o1_500.png
ReplyDelete65 roses is actually a common nickname for CF, and some children are taught to say it tat way, because it is supposedly 'easier' to say and remember. There's even a children's book about CF that has the title 'Mallory's 65 Roses'.
ReplyDelete*That
DeleteI once had a mother tell me "He has a conductive virus. It's in his eyes and everything." Um...conjunctivitis????
ReplyDeleteSick as hell disease
ReplyDelete(sickle cell) :)