Confusion

We are, by now, quite used to learning vast amounts of what can be best described as scientific trivia about subjects we don't really fully understand. We have absolutely no problem when this means learning the names of things that follow a nice, simple, logical system, like if something is superioris then it's on top of something or higher up than something. We can also stretch to learning vast numbers of almost indentical TLAs (which, admittedly, were usually named relatively sensibly, but when the same molecule does about 20 different things, it gets a little more complicated). We are even capable of taken as read the weirder naming systems, such as the fact that the parts of the penis are named as if it is constantly erect. (We find this more disturbing than anything else, to be honest...)

We do however, hate things that are named as if completely by random selection, or at worst, entirely wrongly. Take this wonderful example from wikipedia and our homeostasis course:

'The structures that are usually called "apocrine sweat glands" actually secrete in a merocrine fashion.'

Right.

What actually happened was that some scientist genuinely thought they secreted as apocrine glands, and named them as such. Fair enough. However, people later found that they don't, and yet kept the name. I have absolutely no idea why- perhaps they thought it had a nice ring to it? Maybe they thought it would screw with our heads? Personally, I'm going with both, plus the fact that the original scientist would have been heartbroken had he been told he was wrong, so no one wanted to tell him.

Geraldine xxx

P.S. On a similar note, Douglas bags are really different from pouches of Douglas, but it's a bad thing to get fluid in either of them.