Out of curiosity, what is wrong with “belly”?
My stomach is wherever I lay my hat.
The stomach is wherever the small children go after I deep fry them and eat them.
I just laughed so hard I cried.
If asked I’d put my hand on the area below my ribs but above my belly button, since that’s what people seem to refering to in the general sense; though I suppose if doctors on discovery wanted to during a c-section, they could literally place the baby on it’s mother’s stomach. 
If asked I’d also be concerned that I was suspected of having a head injury, since I’ve never asked to point to “where’s your ___” to anyone over the age of three.
Mine is easy to spot. It is sticking out of a rather large bulge in my belly.
Last year my doc disconnected it for technical reasons. My esophogas goes straight to the small intestine. We didn’t foresee that this would give it enough play to do what it wants and so it now sticks out in a rather ugly way.
He tells me we will eventually go back and fix it. I’m torn between hating the look and not wanting yet another freaking surgery.
Yeah, I’m with Stainz, NinjaChick. I use “belly” to police officers and juries. “Abdomen” doesn’t work for everybody.
If my tummy hurts, I place my hand on my mid-abdomen, if asked about my stomach I place my hand on my abdominal left upper quadrant. I call my tummy my belly, since it does have a belly-button, but this makes my husband grind his teeth, so I say tummy out loud.
I’m an OB/GYN nurse and I do a LOT of education on where the stomach really is and why babies can’t grow in them.
My pancreas is said to look like chewed gum and it’s behind my stomach, happily secreting.
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jsgoddess** isn’t alone on the planet.
I would point to the actual organ. But I’m not sure how accurate I would have been before starting med school.
raises hand I knew med school was good for something.
I paid attention in biology classes, so I have a pretty good idea where most of my innards are. My stomach is tucked under my diaphragm, which is a big ol’ sheet of muscle that acts as a bellows for my lungs. Also in that area are the liver and an assortment of smaller bits; the gallbladder, spleen, pancreas, and flugelhorn. I understand the pancreas, but I don’t know what the rest of them are for. (Well, the spleen is for venting when you get mad, but only as a figure of speech.)
Below that are the small and large bowels, and if you need more you need to go see Vanna White. The appendix, which you can look up in the back of the book, sorta hangs off the start of the large bowel, or colon ( : ). The colon, viewed from the front, almost forms a rectangle until it drops down into the rectum, which ends in the (your boss.)
The urinary system is a whole nother page, as are the reproductive bits.
Do you literal-stomach people say things like “intestinal cramping” rather than “stomachache”?
If I think that’s what’s going on, sure - though probably “intestinal distress/discomfort” is more common from me. Then again, I work in the medical profession so I do try to be more precise at times.
The stomach is rigth under the center of the ribcage, I think. The solar plexus is called “la boca del estómago” in Spanish - the stomach’s mouth. Having been hit there a couple times, I sure remember where it was.
The whole area between ribcage and pelvis is my belly in English and la tripota or la tripa in Spanish (tripota if it’s acting up).
Well, if I was to point to mine, I’d point to left side, below my ribs.
With my husband, it would be left side, underneath his lowest ribs (he has a hiatus hernia, which I discovered when examining him for practice).
Saying “cool, I can hear bowel sounds in your chest”, is, I have discovered, not the best way to tell someone you think they might have a hiatus hernia. His doctor did it much better by pointing to things on his x-ray.
Yep. Or “enteritis”.
Having dealt with lots of fun digestive-type problems, I know exactly where mine is. Although when I call in sick due to any I will tell my boss my “stomach” is bothering me, even though it’s most often my cranky, irritable bowels.
This is a fun little game for those of you who think you know it all. (it’s a worksafe bbc website)
I’d point down my throat. It’s somewhere along that line.
The I check my stomach was taking some friends to DQ for a blizzard, they will be home around dinner time.
Um, the last time I checked … see what happens when I am hungry!? :smack:
I don’t need to point to my stomach. My stomach is on the move. Boldly moving into territories like a Risk player that just turned in cards for 60 armies. My stomach is the star attraction of my body show. It screams out for attention with 144 point font and gets top billing over penis and brain.