Medicine has long been apostrophized as a field whose practitioners shield themselves behind a layer of fancy words, and rightly so. Sometimes though the words serve a useful purpose: if you have to discuss bodily functions, it helps to use a word that won't gross people out. A case in point is a word I came across in a gastroenterologist's report ( Read more... )

Today a patient turned up wanting a flu shot. I went to check with my assistant, since she had told me last week that we only had ten doses left.

"How many do we have left?"

"Ten."

"You told me that last week."

"They dropped off some more," she answered.

"So no matter how many we give out, we always have ten left? It's just like Hanukkah!