Half of learning any trade is learning the lingo.
I recently had another CT scan at Mayo. They are very thorough there, but you end up getting referral after referral and each new doctor wants to run more tests. I am hoping to be done with this, but the cardiologist wants to run a "stress test" (the chemical kind, not the treadmill kind) with a scan. I told him that friends had this and it "felt like dying" and was like a heart attack. "Well, it is, kind of, but not really" he replied.
I am not sure what the end game is here. Parkinson's disease usually ends in a heart attack, after many years. So even if they find coronary artery disease, I am not sure that treatment will extend my life much.
But what got me to thinking (again, a bad habit) was the reports I get from Mayo. They are very thorough, to be sure! And results buzz on your smart phone as you are walking to the parking lot after the procedure. This is first-class medical care, to be sure - and I have yet to receive a bill for any of it.
Interpreting the results is another matter, as often they arrive, literally in Latin. Fortunately, in the Mayo "app" they have a feature where Latin words are hyperlinked to a "patient-friendly" explanation of terms.
So the following report, for example, appeared on my phone, on the way home from the procedure:
EXAM: CT ABDOMEN PELVIS WITHOUT AND WITH IV CONTRAST
COMPARISON: None.
TECHNIQUE: CT of the abdomen and pelvis is performed with and without intravenous contrast.
FINDINGS:
Noncirrhotic liver. No focal hepatic lesion. No biliary dilation or radiopaque gallstone.
Spleen, pancreas, adrenals and left kidney are unremarkable. Simple 5 cm right lower renal cyst. 9 mm right lower renal probable cyst with dense wall calcification. No urinary calculus or hydronephrosis.
No bowel dilation or wall thickening. Multiple colonic diverticula but no evidence of active inflammation.
No lymphadenopathy. No ascites. No peritoneal or retroperitoneal lesion.
Aortoiliac calcifications without aneurysmal dilation. Patent visualized vasculature.
Urinary bladder is partially distended. Prostate size is within normal limits.
Degenerative changes in the skeleton.
Translation? You are as healthy as a horse. The liver thing was a real surprise. You'd think years of drinking would have caused some damage. But no - healthy liver, gall bladder, kidneys, etc. This made me feel great, although the Parkinson's thing is still an issue. The only organ I wore out was my brain, apparently.
But again, it got me to thinking, why was the report written in code when a plain language version was also avaialble? And this got me to thinking how Latin has been used, over the years, in the fields of Medicine, Religion, and the Law. Yes, at one time, lawyers spoke in Latin and even today, Latin terms are used to describe certain concepts - e.g., pro se, res ipsa loquitur, stare decisis, bona fide, mens rea, amicu curiae - the list goes on and on.
Every first year law student buys a copy of Black's Law Dictionary and memorizes the meaning of all these terms, much as first year med students (I suppose) study Gray's Anatomy, which also documents a host of obscure and common medical terms, usually in Latin. But of course, the granddaddy of them all was the Bible, which for centuries, was available only in Latin.
In fact, that was a big sticking point with the Protestant reformation - the idea that the "Word of God" should be available in the native tongue, and not read in some mystical dead language and then interpreted to the masses by the anointed few. Vatican II - still controversial to this day - allowed for Mass to be said in the local language, but some conservatives still pine for the "good old days" when the Priest would spout Latin gibberish. Maybe the audience didn't understand a word of it, but it sure sounded pretty elegant!
The list goes on and on. Scientific terms were (and are) often in Latin, particularly in fields of biology and botany. Plants and animals are given species names in Latin, along with their colloquial native language counterparts. The Norther Cardinal is also the Cardinalis cardinalis, which sounds so nice, you say it twice. Oddly enough, Catholic prelates are named for this bird - or vice-versa, I forget which.
Even the stars in the sky are given Latin names, like proxima centauri, the closest star to our solar system. One wonders why, but then again, the naming of these things dates back to a time when people actually studied and read Latin, but rarely spoke it. Latin was, I guess, a universal language. So Scientists, Doctors, and Priests could converse, so to speak, even if their native languages were disparate. I guess also too, it made sense that the language of only one country would not dominant these fields, much as English does today in world commerce or French did in world diplomacy.
But I can't help but wonder whether gatekeeping was also part of the deal. By putting professions behind a paywall of sorts, you could keep the amateurs out of the guild. And perhaps I am overstating this. After all, even without Latin, each profession or field has its own lingo and terminology that only practitioners are familiar with. A simple Latin phrase, for example, can describe a complete concept in an abbreviated format - in a manner which those in the field quickly and easily grasp.
Acronyms are arguably the Latin of today. We use three-letter acronyms to describe concepts in science and technology, rather than spell these things out longhand. Funny and odd-sounding names (e.g., Bluetooth) are also used to label functions or technology. Latin has become a dead language in that regard, at least going forward.
Speaking of which, no one learns Latin anymore. One of my ancestors taught school in Pompey, New York in a one-room schoolhouse in the 1800's. The curriculum included both Latin and Greek, neither of which appear in the current school curriculum of that County today - or indeed, anywhere else. My older brother took Latin in the 7th and 8th grades, but by the time I was in Junior High, the teacher had retired and was not replaced. Students today struggle to learn English - their native tongue.
And indeed, when it comes to Latin, why bother? Other than in naming a few things and reading Roman numerals, there seems to be little point to it anymore. Common Latin phrases and terms have morphed over to the English language - a language that seems to absorb terms from every other language on the planet. You can be a Doctor, Lawyer, or Scientist without being fluent in Latin. One only needs to know the names of things relevant to their profession. Priests, I am told, are still required to learn Latin, although fluency may not be required.
So, I suppose it is not gatekeeping per se, but also has utilitarian functions. But it also is a way of separating the plebes from the higher-ups.
Just stupid things I think about in waiting rooms.
