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Joined: Oct 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
In reply to:
The Candiru!
I have heard of this-- it lives off nitrogen--(which is why it normal lives in the gills of other fish) and it can sense a strong source of nitrogen in water, and swims upstream to the source--
It seems if there is a flow of urine, the urethra is wide enough for it to swim in. (but it can't swim up a stream out of the water-- so you can stand on a dock, or boat deck) So it could happen– but I guess it didn't happen very often (still who wants to take that kind of a chance?)
and yes, i am sure women would be more vulnerable-- but it might actually enter their bladder since there urethra is so short--
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
Heaven/heavens
The singular vs. plural is confusing all over the Bible. Genesis I:1 uses the Hebrew "ha'shamayim" which is plural. In the Psalms, you can have heaven or heavens, and there is a verse in I Chron., in the prayer of King Solomon at the dedication of the Temple, which has "the heaven of heavens". What are you to make of that? Where are the resident Biblical & liturgical experts? Father Steve?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
The key here was warning not to micturate ("P" silent as in bathing) In the waters mentioned there dwells a tiny crustacean, that homes in on the stream of warm water, and enters the male urethra, and has backwards direct spines so it cannot be removed on the spot. If it got into bladder, in old days, death frequently ensued. Equally horrible alternative when only partway up male urethra, was amputation just above that point. A potent reason for not polluting the Amazon. wwh
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
Another vote for seel-a-canth.
Etymology from the greek as noted by others and used in words such as coelome (referring to the gut - important to phylogenists as an important differentiator between the stages of evolution exhibited by animal phyla. Hence also the phylum Coelenterata) and Coeliac disease.
stales
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
What I've always wondered is why, in the Roman Mass, the phrase descendit de caelis has heavens plural and ascendit in caelum has heaven singular.
A friend of mine who is a Catholic priest has asked the same question. The answer is, I believe, "because".
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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I had occasion to ask a Catholic priest once. The question was fresh in my mind since we were just returning from a rehearsal of the Mozart Requiem and had stopped off for something to eat. One of the people in our group recognized a couple enjoying a beer and some food as being a priest and a nun. I introduced my self and asked. The nun knew no Latin and the priest struggled to recapture what little he had learned but hadn't used since the Great Changeover. He had no answer for me. It was all I could do, upon learning that neither were anywhere near fluent in Latin, to keep myself from stuttering out, "But, that means you don't have benefit of clergy."
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
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seel-a-kanth, and the BBC should be ashamed of itself. When hot news breaks they have to have reporters on air before the pronunication department get to them, but this was hardly urgent, and mispronunciations are usually fixed by the bulletin one hour later.
The confusion of -ae- and -oe- comes from mediaeval Latin where they were both pronounced long -e-, and the italic forms (in hand or print) were virtually identical.
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
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forms (in hand or print) were virtually identical
... which problem led, in English, to the closing of the loop in words like sum to spell it in our more recognisable form of some.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>seel-a-kanth, and the BBC should be ashamed of itself
I'm not convinced about the BBC here. I have only ever heard "seel-a-kanth" and I'm an avid BBC Radio 4 listener. The only problem is that I've never seen it written down so I didn't associate "coelacanth" with the word that I had heard - the shame!
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