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A human coccyx is, as one can clearly see, just like a cuckoo's beak (illustration from Sobotta's Human Anatomy 1909) |
COCCYX
Noun. Plural coccyxes, coccyges. Late 16th century.
[Latin from Greek kokkux, -ug- (originally) cuckoo: from its resemblance (in humans) to a cuckoo's beak.]
ANATOMY. The small triangular bone forming the lower end of the spinal column in humans and some apes;
the analogous part in birds or other vertebrates.
There. Nothing remotely funny or difficult about that. And if your smirking backfriends need a little further education, you can tell them that the coccyx is so named because it resembles a cuckoo's beak, and pain in the coccyx is called coccydynia and it's no laughing matter.
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A Eurasian cuckoo (photo by Isidro Villa Verde) |
Have you ever injured your coccyx?
Were you appalled by the subsequent crude jokes and lack of sympathy?
Do please tell us your tails by leaving a comment in the box below.
ReplyDeleteShawn: I think I broke my back, and my neck, and my arm.
Gus: That's nothing, I just bruised my coccyx.
Shawn: Say what?
Gus: You know what I mean.
Shawn: I certainly do not.
Gus: When I get home I'm definitely going to have to rub oil on my coccyx.
Shawn: Gus, please, that is disgusting.
Gus: What? A deep tissue massage is definitely what my coccyx needs.
Shawn: Would you stop saying that word?!
Gus: Coccyx? That's what it's called Shawn!