yes, this is currently my job

[deird1]

You know, answering anatomy quizzes is much easier once you've learnt enough Latin to realise that ovaduct means "egg tube" and thermoreceptors are "heat getters".

Comments

[velvetwhip]

And ovaducts reminded me of this:

Groucho: Now here is a little peninsula, and over here is a viaduct leading over to the mainland.

Chico: Why a duck?

Groucho: (after a pause)I’m fine, how are you? I said this is a viaduct leading over to the mainland.

Chico: All right, why a duck?

Groucho: I say that’s a viaduct.

Chico: All right, why a duck? Why a duck? Why not a chicken?

Groucho: Well, I don’t know why not a chicken. I’m a stranger here myself. I know that’s a viaduct. You try to cross over there on a chicken and you’ll find out why a duck.

Chico: But why-

Groucho: It’s deep water, that’s why a duck. Look here, suppose you were out horseback riding and you came to that stream and you wanted to ford over. But you can’t. It’s too deep.

Chico: What would you want with a Ford when you got a horse?

Groucho: (after a pause)Well, I’m sorry the matter came up. I just know that that’s a viaduct.

[redsixwing]

Lol!

This is basically how I navigate the doctor's office: make a terrible half-baked translation on what scraps of Latin I have, ask if it's correct, update from there. XD

[unjapanologist]

Knowing some Latin really does make learning vocabulary for many originally European languages much, much easier. You go "Oh, that one again" all the time.

[owenthurman]

I was discussing muscles and exercises with a Spanish-speaking friend and it was convenient for me that they all have the same names: deltoids, triceps, trapezius, gastrocnemius, pectorals, and so on.

It was convenient until I tried to talk about those Anglo-Saxon hamstrings. When I had to explain what that word meant, she laughed at me.