If someone asked you to point to your stomach, would you point in the general direction of the organ, or would you point more toward your belly button?
How do you refer to the general area of your abdomen? Abdomen? Belly? Tummy? Stomach?
My husband insists that I’m the only person on the planet who, when told to point to my stomach, points to the organ and not my belly, which I call my belly. He calls the entire region from the bottom of his ribs to his pelvis his “stomach.” I imagine more people will agree with me, but I’m not looking for quantity, just quality.
I was quite ignorant of where my stomach was until I had a gastric by-pass. Now I am quite aware that it is much closer to my breast bone than I had previously thought. The first time after the surgery that I overate, I thought I was having a heart attack!
Since my gastric bypass, I have to point to two places…behind my breastbone, and under my ribcage on the left. But even before the surgery, I’d point to the actual location…you know, where the gurgling and grumbling came from! It still gurgles and grumbles, but not as frequently, and much louder!
Yes, but I love you.
I always deal with this with people who should know better e.g. cops. Yes, the bullet was in his belly, his abdomen. No, it was not in his stomach.
I can’t answer the poll because I don’t point until I’ve resolved whether the other person knows what a “stomach” is. It is the organ. It isn’t the abdomen or the belly. Let’s not even get into the retroperitoneum. (Not that there’s a lot of room back there.) Anybody really knows where the pancreas is, raise your hand, and I give you a gold star.
Sometimes I use the mealymouthed “gastric pouch” to get around the equivocation.
People in my family are pretty literal, too. We know that our stomach is inside our abdomen. I couldn’t point to my stomach without also adding, “It’s somewhere in here,” as I point.
I also use “stomach” to literally mean where the organ is. I’d guess that most of us who have had some training in medicine would. I don’t blame someone who’s never taken Gross Anatomy for not being sure where exactly the stomach is, but I’ve spent enough time staring at cut-open cadavers to be able to picture the general relationships between the stomach, intestines, liver, etc.
I understand how someone could be a bit unclear as to the exact location of their stomach. But unless you’re speaking to a small child, there’s no reason for anyone over the age of ten to use the term ‘belly’.
I point to the general area of my belly button, and talk about my “stomach” (as in, “My stomach is rumbling” or “The stomach is responsible for digestion in the human body”) to most people I know, and my “tummy” to kids.
I know where my stomach (the organ) is, as well as all my other bits. Kindly old Dr Torrington showed me how to palpate some, auscultate others and percuss the abdomen.
To me, “stomach” refers to the specific organ. To the majority of my clients, “stomach” = “abdomen”. When someone brings their dog in for me to “check her stomach” I often explain how we could administer barium and take radiographs to evaluate the dog’s stomach. The client then says, oh, I mean here (and points to a lesion on the ventral abdomen).
I also use “temperature” to mean just that. When I place a thermometer into an animals rectum and the client says, “does he have a temperature?” I reply, “yes, and it is normal.”. Temperature and fever are not synonyms.
A coupla years ago I had a client point to his dog’s mammary glands. He said he didn’t know what to call them. I told him the terminology is the same for a dog as it is for a human. So, of course he said, “OK, she has a problem with her titties.”.
