Thursday, February 26, 2015

Intimidating Words, Part Two

Skeletal and labyrinthine

Pharmacoresistant:
(from Dictionary.com)
Did you mean pharmaco-?

More suggestions:



Epileptogenesis:
(from Dictionary.com)
There are no results for: epileptogenesis, but we are adding new words daily.


I received an email from MedScape this morning with Targeting Pharmacoresistant Epilepsy and Epileptogenesis in the subject line. This was the exact title of the article referenced, and I shrank when I saw it. My mind wanders to wondering. The names for drugs and the words cobbled together by the Science Powers That Be make me squirm. I can't find their definitions in the dictionary. There are, apparently, not even suggestions for these words or even substitutes. I do like the word confusticate, as referenced above. It means to confuse or perplex; bewilder. 

Epileptogenesis is the gradual process by which a normal brain develops epilepsy. Pharmacoresistant epilepsy can be practically defined as failure to achieve seizure freedom following adequate trials of two tolerated and appropriately chosen AEDs.

The weight of metaphor. 

Oh, to be a person who embraces literalism.

literalism

[lit-er-uh-liz-uh m] 
 
noun
1.
adherence to the exact letter or the literal sense, as in translation orinterpretation:
to interpret the law with uncompromising literalism.
2.
a peculiarity of expression resulting from this:
The work is studded with these obtuse literalisms.
3.
exact representation or portrayal, without idealization, as in art orliterature:
a literalism more appropriate to journalism than to the novel.






I love the word skeletal. I love the word labyrinthine. Our Chinese flame tree has finally dropped all but a few clumps of brown leaves, and its branches reach up to the blue sky and cast skeletal shadows on the grass, the patterns labyrinthine.

I hate the word pharmacoresistant. I hate the word epileptogenesis. Sophie's seizures resist a vast pharmacy of chemicals, and the gradual process by which she acquired epilepsy - - the epileptogenesis and resultant pharmacoresistance  -- have stripped me to the bone, rendered me skeletal, clanking and clinking the labyrinthine paths.





Intimidating Words, Part 1

12 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Ms. Moon -- Thank you! Now to turn that gold into something tangible...

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  2. You are a poet. The science powers that are not, are not.

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    Replies
    1. 37paddington: I'm not sure the science powers care, but thank you. I'd take poetry over science any day.

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    2. 37paddington: I'm not sure the science powers care, but thank you. I'd take poetry over science any day.

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  3. I read that as "oh, to be the person who embraces liberalism". It has been enough of a day and I am off to bed.

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  4. "Epigenetics" came to my attention a few years ago when attempting to grasp a number of chronic family medical conditions. Epigenetics holds hope for many people but the science is young. Informed hope is needed when following and investigating medical advancement. I'm a proactive researcher of the latest medical advances for family members. When all else seems out of our control it's my way of getting a handle on what's possible and where to find it.
    Decades ago my college freshman English prof daily explained the derivation of words and their meaning. She was a rather ethereal Catholic sister who carried me with her on these journeys. I distinctly remember the rest of the class thinking she was strange yet I was fascinated and am to this day. Felt like she was connecting the world to the words and it was glorious.
    Leslie in NJ

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    Replies
    1. Leslie - I love the phrase "connecting the world to the words" -- and that it was done by a Catholic sister makes it even better!

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  5. Talk about a living, evolving (and labyrinthine) language! I have never heard "confusticate," which Blogger underlines in red as an unknown word, not to mention epileptogenesis, though I suppose I could have figured that one out.

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    Replies
    1. Steve Reed -- Evidently, "confusticate" means to confuse and is a "new" word only recently admitted to the dictionary as a slang term. It makes me wonder what sort of people are sitting where deciding on these matters.

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