CarlHoliday

Then there was Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO) formerly of Gatorade and citrus flavored soft drink fame used primarily to prevent citrus flavoring from floating to the top during shipment. Excessive consumption of drinks containing BVO can cause Bromism a condition causing serious neurological, psychiatric, gastrointestinal and dermatological symptoms due to Bromine's tendency to accumulate in body tissues. On May 5, 2014, Coca-Cola and Pepsico announced they would remove BVO from their products and as of early 2020 both companies stopped using BVO in all their products. In July 2024, the FDA revoked regulations allowing BVO revoked regulations allowing the use of BVO in food. Beverage companies have one year to comply.

And then there is selenosis: poisoning due to excessive intake of selenium. Especially cattle, horses and sheep grazing on plants with a high concentration of selenium. Which leads us to blind staggers, a severe form of selenosis characterized by impaired vision, an unsteady gait and a tendency of the animal to stand with the forehead pressed against an immovable obstacle, or a similar condition not caused by selenium poisoning. Now, there’s a phrase just begging for a story and it doesn't need to be caused by ingestion of selenium.

I'm always nervous when correcting Fearless Leader, but the most common and actually lightest, simplest isotope of Hydrogen (protium) contains one proton and one electron. The second isotope, Deuterium, contains a proton, electron and one neutron. Water containing Deuterium is called heavy water and was the basis of the 1965 movie The Heroes of Telemark. The third isotope Tritium contains two neutrons and is radioactive with a half-life of 12.32 years.

For 2,500 years, medical leeches, usually Hirudo medicinalis, often had uses due to blood being one of the four humors. Use dropped off when humoral theory fell out of practice. They reentered the medical theater in the 1980s with the advent of microsurgery with their ability to locally reduce swelling in lieu of drugs that would affect the entire body.

The best synonym for circumlocution I could find is sesquipedalians or, for the more adventurous, sesquipedalianism.

Damn, I feel so honored to be recognized this way. On the other hand, it makes me mad I wasn't able to come up with a story for this year's anthology. It's not that I didn't try. Three starts and three dead ends. Makes an author wonder if he's still got it.

Beginning a year ago September, I began the rigors of bladder cancer with the initial cystoscopy, diagnosis, 1st surgery, 2nd surgery, follow-up cystoscopy that showed suspicious tissue, and follow-up surgery showing no cancer. In all of that, I didn't see one oncologist. It was all done by Resident Urologists (now there's a medical specialty for @Myr) and their Attending Physician. I go to the Seattle VA Medical Center, which is a teaching hospital for the University of Washington. The urologists are concerned with one thing only: the eventual surgical removal of the urinary bladder and the three alternatives for draining urine from the kidneys. I won't go into that now. It's too gruesome to contemplate.

I used to be able to drive on autopilot all the time. I could even be on autopilot on never driven before roads, avenues, and highways, which is scary if you think about it too long. I still do to some extent but take medication to help me stay aware and alive. Mental illness is not a fun disease.

Damn, I saw today's word and I have to admit my mind went in a totally different direction. It was so simple and obvious that I'm surprised no one else came up with it. I'm talking about the good ol' USA's incessant proliferation of CONDOminiums. Why rent an apartment when you can own it? Why go to a resort on vacation when you can go to your time-share condo that you can visit for two weeks out of the year? No, CONDOnation is a better use of the word.

What a pleasant word to celebrate my psychiatrist maxing me out on my anti-depressant. The next step will be an increase in my mood stabilizer. Besides, the gray gloomies have arrived in Western Washington state with rain forecasted for nearly every day into the near future. Who's the cracker who decided the acronym for Seasonal Affective Disorder would be SAD. I know, it's only a coincidence. Funny how it's always only a coincidence.

And then, for some, you wake up in the morning and say, "Oh, god, another day."

Why is there always a cheerful someone who throws confetti as the coffin passes by?

Once again, Americans have Merriam-Webster to thank for keeping another foreign word from cluttering up our vocabularies. Except, in this case, while Merriam-Webster says we don't have to be Xenodochial to strangers, though we can put strangers, including pilgrims, the poor, and the sick, in Xenodochia (Xenodochium, singular). Whether you want to be xenodochial to those people is your own choice.

Curiosity can lead you to the oddest places. I looked up apricity in Merriam-Webster and there was no entry. Did a Bing search and right at the top was an entry from Merriam-Webster's word blog Wordplay titled 'Apricity' and Other Rare Wintry Words. In the entry for Apricity, Merriam-Webster says that Apricity is so rare and obsolete it only occurs in the Oxford English Dictionary. That's nice, but why are there 79,100 to 105,000 results from the search? If Apricity is so rare and obsolete, why so many people using it? Sent a message to Merriam-Webster asking that same question. Will be interesting if I get an answer.

No comment on vexillology would be appropriate than the "only in America" misuse of the national flag of Switzerland with the internationally recognized flag for the International Committee of the Red Cross. Is this an Emergency Room or the meeting of Swiss skiers?