healthfixit.com
Readers: You don’t have to be a doctor to write about the human body. But don’t make stupid mistakes.
One we see every day is “stomach.” Almost every reference to it in literature and news reports is wrong!
Your stomach is in your chest, just above the centerline of your torso. It’s next to your liver and just below your lungs and heart. And yet time and time again, people point to the area around the belly button and call it the stomach. Punched in the stomach. Shot in the stomach. Stomach ache. Wrong, wrong, wrong. That area comprises your intestines. OK. You don’t want to say that. But say “abdomen” or “belly” or “torso.” Don’t say stomach. Also, why do you say someone was lying on his stomach? He was lying on all his other organs as well. Say he was lying on his belly. Or his chest.
Also, if you are writing fiction, you have to decide whether you want to deal in medical fantasy, or be accurate. If the latter, get it right or it becomes a disqualifier.
How many novels and movies showed a man taking a 2-by-4 to the head, or a punch to the chin, and going down like a carp, only to come to 15 minutes later, rubbing his noggin or jaw and saying, “What happened?” Then standing and winning a shootout? In reality, either of those attacks would have caused serious or even fatal injuries.
And while we’re on the subject of shooting, if you ever get a chance, and you have the stomach (see above) for it, look at actual emergency room photos of a bullet wound. In the movies, a guy gets it in the gut (not stomach), and no blood or gore spurts out. Also, guys get shot and keep fighting. Try it sometime.
If you are going for farce, fine. If you are trying to be medically accurate, don’t insult the reader.
20th Century Fox
Some works do the whole thing for farce, so you let it go. None is more famous, or infamous, than “Home Alone.” After the movie came out, an organization of emergency room physicians listed the various attacks 8-year-old Kevin inflicted on the two hapless burglars, and explained what the medical impact would be in real life. Here’s a partial list:
•Iron to face: Probable concussion. Possible loss of vision. Possible fracture of base of skull.
•Red-hot doorknob: Second-degree burns.
•Partly-filled paint bucket to face: Concussion, broken nose, fractured skull.
•Crowbar to chest: Cracked ribs, potential internal bleeding and damaged lung.
•Flamethrower to head: Possibly fatal.
Watch this on video! https://youtu.be/mGbzbheMs0E
Next time: Not suitable for work
Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com
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NOTE: Eliot and Lou Ann are available for speaking engagements, and can travel. Reach us through the comments section. Just think of all of your employees getting back to work on a Monday, their heads filled with all the ways we’ve shown them to be better communicators!