It must be awful to get it, but jesus, what a name. James Lileks says today in his Trib column, “It’s just fun to say ‘monkeypox,’ and that’s why the story’s so irresistible. Doctors must have a hard time breaking the news; they have to stand outside the examining room and stop laughing before they put on their Doctor Faces and tell their patients that they have —grphym! excuse me. Monkeypox. Blyrgm! Hyrt! Sorry, something in my eye.”
S’trewth! Just try to say “monkeypox” with a straight face. No wonder Tom Brokaw always cuts away to a visual when talking about it. Any other funny-sounding diseases or syndromes?
For extra hyuks, say “monkeypox” with a sing-song (east) Indian accent. If you have an Indian friend, get them to say it while doing that hard-to-imitate head bobble.
“Trichotillomania” rolls off the tongue nicely. I recently went to a presentation on behavioral treatment methods.
“Happy Puppet Syndrome” has now, thankfully, been given another name.
It’s a genetic disorder.
Another was, IIRC, “Cocktail party syndrome”. It was used to describe a developmental disorder with high social functioning, but deficits in daily living skills.
And I’m sure that, “Asperger’s syndrome” would make Beavis and Butthead laugh.
I’m glad that social psychology is recognizing that bad names = more stigmatization. Psychologists would probably call “Monkeypox”, “Simian Blister Sundrome” or something less laughable.
For an example of a well described social science disorder google, “Dead Grandmother Syndrome”.
It’s similar to mad cow disease, and is, therefore, passed by eating neural tissue.
Anyway, this isn’t exactly guffaw-out-loud funny, but in my lab we test for mutations in the methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase gene, abbreviated “MTHFR.” It takes about 10 seconds for new employees to start calling it the “mother f-er” gene. Ha ha.
Not only do I have “high social functioning, but deficits in daily living skills,” but I frequently find myself in a little black dress, trading quips and bon mots while sipping enterprising little drinks!
I think most of the people I meet, including the one that is in the mirror every morning, suffer from CPS. ( )
Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD)
Incidentially, and nearly as expensive, if when you turn on your air conditioner in your car and smell something akin to Maple Syrup, it means that your coolant is leaking and traveling through the exhaust system which = gobs of money to fix. IRC from hearing this on ASK THE CAR GUYS. So, if you have MSUD, don’t piss in your anti-freeze.
Yes, Monkeypox is kinda fun to say, but even better, it Spooner-izes (Spoonerism-ses?) nicely, too. I almost immediately started thinking of it as Moxie Punk.
Whoever named the disease is probably a direct descendant of the person who came up with the name for Chicken Pox. What does a future generation have to look forward to? Lobster Pox? Piggy Pox? Pink Flamingo Pox? My God, where will it end?
Try telling someone you suffer from it. When I told my boyfriend about it, he looked at me as if I had just developed a third foot on my forehead.