On Pronouncing Foreign Terms

I'm pretty sure it applies to any other field as well. In Medicine, there are a lot of terms adapted after a person, commonly after the one who named the findings.

Throughout our first and second year, we've came across quite a number of names. Apart from the exam-popular names like Grave's disease which showed signs of thyrotoxicosis and the Addison's disease which also refers to adrenal insufficiency, we also came across the very common ones associated with the elderly like the Parkinson's disease, or the Alzheimer's for all that matter.

I still remembered when I first had my medical biochemistry lecture on jaundice, the different types of it. Am totally confused. Crigler-Najjar syndrome (inherited cause of unconjugated hyperbilirubinaemia), Dubin-Johnson syndrome (autosomal recessive disorder-defective excretion of conjugated bilirubin), Gilbert's syndrome (unconjugated hyperbilirubinaemia due to decrased enzymes)... Honestly, I still can't memorize them.

Coming to our 2nd year, more names were introduced. In our Pathology alone, we've came across basic pathology like the Virchow's triad, to something more specific like Barrett's oesophagus or Meckel's diverticulum, and finally even more specific syndromes or disease like Berger's disease (IgA nephropathy), Fanconi anemia, Marfan's syndrome (autosomal dominant connective tissue disease), Budd-Chiari syndrome (hepatic vein obstruction by thrombosis or tumor causes ischemia and hepatocyte damage - liver failure), Goodpasture's syndrome (Acute glomerulonephritis +lung symptoms) and etc. Löffler's syndrome (pulmonary eosinophilia) came up a lot in Parasitology as far as I remember. Medical microbiology and Pharmacology don't need to be mentioned, it seemed like everything in these two subjects are special nouns. Borrelia, Syphillis, Atenolol, Barbiturates. Whatever.

It is widely believed that the iconic American President
Abraham Lincoln suffered from Marfan's syndrome.

When we had our neuro block, it was even worse. Wernicke area. Broca's area. Brown-Séquard syndrome (lesion in one half of the cord - due to hemisection or unilateral cord lesion). Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome (inherited neuropathy). Friedreich's ataxia (degeneration of nerve tracts). Korsakoff's sydrome (decreased ability to acquire new memories). Guillain-Barré syndrome (acute inflammatory disorder of peripheral nerves).

Coming to third year, even before the clinical really started, I learnt about Horner's, Dupuytren's, Argyll-Robertson, Peutz-Jagher. Yada yada. I can barely remember. Of course, there were more. I could publish a book just listing out all those names: Arnold-Chiary malformation (congenital malformation of the cerebellar tonsils & medulla, leading to herniation through formaen magnum); Baker's cyst (popliteal cyst formed from knee effusion); Bazin's disease (localized fat necrosis + ulceration & indurated rash); BehÇet's disease (systemic vasculitis of unknown cause); Churg-Strauss syndrome (triad of asthma, eosinophilia and vasculitis)... And the list never ends.

Thing is, they're all special names.

Buerger's disease (inflamation of arteries, veins and nerves) vs Berger's disease (IgA nephropathy).

Not only that, the pronunciation.

Just recently when we had our neurology introduction ward round, we came across a lower motor neuron lesion case. There as a glove-and-stocking loss of sensation, and the doctor asked us if we know any syndromes or disease that could present this way. No one answered. "Gee-yan bar-ray syndrome", he said. HUH???!?! And he spelled it out. "G-u-i-l-l-a-i-n B-a-r-r-e. Double L you pronounce as Y. He was a French." Ta-daa.

Some scientists now say President Roosevelt was
in a wheelchair because of Guillain-Barre syndrome,
not polio.

I'd have read that as "Goo-lay-in Bar". And I'm sure a lot of us do that.

Tell me about that. There are more I-think-I-read-wrongly... Because they're like, from distinctive country which of course, has their own way of pronunciation.

Creutzfeldt and Jakob (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease -increased prions leads to spngiform changes in the brain) were German. Buerger (of Buerger's disease) was Austrian. Sir James Paget of Britain described the Paget's disease. Father of Pathology, Rudolf Ludwig Karl Virchow was a German. Dr. Mikito Takayasu described theinflammatory disease of unknown etiology that affets the aorta and its branches, hence the Takayasu's arteritis.

And I couldn't even found where these others came from. Ekbom from Ekbom's syndrome. Fabry of Fabry's disease. Gélineau with Gélineau's syndrome. Tietze and his syndrome. Peutz-Jegher and their syndrome. Reckon Sjörgen of Sjörgen syndrome might be a Northern European...

And I never really bothered to go find out... These forefathers of medicine are so not going to be happy with the medical students nowadays. Generally. I mean... How many of us would really go to the library to find out anyways? Just read and pronounce the names that seemed like it and we let it go already.

Bleh. Now I feel bad. French physicians Georges Guillain and Jean Alexandre Barré wouldn't really like their name read as "Goo-lay-in" and "Barrrr" I presume. I myself wouldn't like my name read wrongly.

But so far I'm okay by making everyong calling me "Bong".

You don't just mess that up that easily.