Notes From The Carpo Tunnel
October 11th 2011 05:18
And what exciting travel destination, you ask, am I sending this from?
I'd like to say I'm somewhere on the road from Zurich to Milan, but no, I'm at the same old computer desk in my same old office where I always write these things.
I may be in fact developing a case of what some people call "Carpo Tunnel." I've even heard it called "Carpool Tunnel," which would be a whole other kind of claustrophobic, vaguely threatening space entirely.
What I'm talking about is the medical condition known properly as "carpal tunnel syndrome."
What? What does this mean? What's a carpal, and why does it have a tunnel?
And what for the love of god would make it have a syndrome?
OK. First, a "carpal" is not a pal who rides in your car. (Although this is, I'm fairly certain, probably the source of the carpool thing above. I get a touch of that syndrome every time I have to go through the Holland Tunnel.)
Carpal means related to the wrist (from the Greek word "karpos," meaning wrist. Why did the Greeks call a wrist a karpos? I don't know. They just did. Get over it.)
And any kind of a syndrome is a bad thing, you can trust me on that one.
Anyhow, there's a nerve that goes through a passage (a tunnel - and I absolutely refuse to further define the word tunnel) from your forearm to your hand. When that nerve becomes restricted due to the narrowing of the tunnel, we have the condition known as carpal tunnel syndrome.
Is it serious? Is it painful? Is it treatable? Yes to all of these. However -
This is a blog about language and language use. I'm not a doctor and I'm not about to give any medical advice. For those who want more information, I've included a link at the end to an article from the National Institute of Health.
If you think you may have or may be developing carpal tunnel syndrome, see a doctor. Just don't tell him you have Carpo Tunnel. Especially if you're in Italy.
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