# deadly disease = delicious crustacean -- I dont get it **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2002, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadly-disease-delicious-crustacean-i-dont-get-it/112721 "2002-06-06T19:33:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![regnad\_kcin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@regnad\_kcin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/regnad_kcin)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadly-disease-delicious-crustacean-i-dont-get-it/112721/1 "2002-06-06T19:33:39Z")
Whats the relationship between the disease cancer and the animal crab? These are similar words in just about every European language. I dont understand the connection. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadly-disease-delicious-crustacean-i-dont-get-it/112721/2 "2002-06-06T19:45:25Z")
Perhaps it’s because of the crabby shape of a bad tumor, with all the little tenril-y things. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadly-disease-delicious-crustacean-i-dont-get-it/112721/3 "2002-06-06T20:01:14Z")
That’s always the explanation I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadly-disease-delicious-crustacean-i-dont-get-it/112721/4 "2002-06-06T20:02:38Z")
It’s all Hippocrates’s fault: he named the disease “karkinos,” which is Greek for crab. Latin adopted the word as “cancri,” which leads to our modern word “cancer.” [http://www.hoag.org/Cancer/CancerBasics.html](http://www.hoag.org/Cancer/CancerBasics.html) There is an old legend that Hercules was attacked by a crab (at Hera’s direction) during his battle with the Hydra. This attack (and the tenaciousness of crabs) may also be responsible for the disease’s name. ---
**Author:** ![Jpeg\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@Jpeg\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jpeg_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadly-disease-delicious-crustacean-i-dont-get-it/112721/5 "2002-06-06T20:26:49Z")
It could have been worse. Can you imagine being diagnosed with skin lobster? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadly-disease-delicious-crustacean-i-dont-get-it/112721/6 "2002-06-06T20:55:11Z")
Maybe the seafood industry should take a hint from the astrology industry and change the name of the delicacy to “Moon Child”. 'Course that might piss off all of the _Neverending Story_ Fans. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ummm.yeahh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ummm.yeahh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ummm.yeahh)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadly-disease-delicious-crustacean-i-dont-get-it/112721/7 "2002-06-06T22:46:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jpeg Jones \* > \*\*It could have been worse. > > Can you imagine being diagnosed with skin lobster? \*\* Or piling the kids in the car for a trip to eat at good ol’ “Red Cancer”… ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadly-disease-delicious-crustacean-i-dont-get-it/112721/8 "2002-06-06T23:26:33Z")
Whew. I was thinking this was going to be about a whole other disease… ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadly-disease-delicious-crustacean-i-dont-get-it/112721/9 "2002-06-07T00:51:30Z")
Here’s a page that talks about the history of cancer: [http://www.chemheritage.org/EducationalServices/pharm/chemo/readings/timeline.htm](http://www.chemheritage.org/EducationalServices/pharm/chemo/readings/timeline.htm) It has this explanation of where the name came from: > [@](#): > > Hippocrates gave the name karkinos and karkinoma (the ancient Greek words for “crab”) to a group of diseases that he studied, including cancers of the breast, uterus, stomach, and skin. The hard center and spiny projections of the tumors Hippocrates observed reminded him of the crustacean. “Cancer” means “crab” or “crayfish” in Latin. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadly-disease-delicious-crustacean-i-dont-get-it/112721/10 "2002-06-07T02:10:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jpeg Jones \* > It could have been worse. > > Can you imagine being diagnosed with skin lobster? Thus making the delicacy _lobster tail_ butt cancer. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deadly-disease-delicious-crustacean-i-dont-get-it/112721/11 "2002-06-07T02:35:48Z")
I’m a Cancer. Which is a disease. Cancers are crabs-another disease. 😃