Do the ailments in the "Operation" game exist?

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ESL (English as a Second Language)

Author: lucyinthesky

Looking at Ailments and Idioms in "Operation"

Operation is a popular board game which a lot of kids played when they were younger. It tests your hand-eye coordination - the point of the game is to act as a "Doctor" and pull out the patient's ailments using tweezers. This wire loop electric game will make the patient's nose turn red if you touch the metal edges of the "surgical opening".

But do these ailments exist? What does these ailments or expressions mean? Let's a closer look.

Adam's Apple
"Adam's apple" is a type of colloquial slang, or an idiom. It comes from the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, where Adam eats a piece of forbidden fruit that gets stuck in his throat. The thyroid cartilage and the larynx (the voice box which lets us speak) reminds us of a small round apple.

If you hum and touch your throat, you'll feel the vibrations - that's your larynx! A larger larynx gives a deeper voice - that's why Adam's apples are more prominent in males as they get older.

Broken Heart
A broken heart is a metaphor - your heart isn't broken like a piece of window glass or your mother's vase. It refers to the intense emotional pain you feel after losing a loved one - whether it is through death, divorce, moving, breaking up, etc. This metaphor is really old - we know it dates back to writings such as the Indian Ramayana and the Bible.

Interestingly enough, there's a true medication condition called Broken Heart Syndrome. Its more medical term is "Takotsubo cardiomyopathy" or "stress cardiomyopathy". The heart's muscles suddenly weaken and heart failure occurs. This Syndrome often occurs in widows who lose their spouses, which could be why husbands and wives tend to pass away within a short duration of time.

Wrenched Ankle
If you've "wrenched your ankle", the expression you're using means you've twisted your ankle very suddenly as so to sprain. It's basically another way of saying you sprained or twisted your ankle.

Butterflies in the Stomach
This idiom is commonly used to describe nervousness or fear that one usually gets before public speaking or taking exams. We refer to these feelings as "butterflies" because the physical condition they feel fluttery, like a butterfly flapping its wings.

This sensation could be related to the body's fight or flight response. Many people have butterflies in their stomach when they start to fall in love or interact with new people. Some people believe this feeling is caused by the release of epinephrine or adrenaline, which pulls blood away from the stomach and sends it to the muscles.

Spare Ribs
You should breathe a deep sigh of relief knowing that spare ribs aren't a medical condition. They're actually a type of meat: pork ribs you can cook and eat. These ribs are cut from the lower portion of the pig (the belly and breastbone).

Water on the Knee
Although this idiom isn't very common anymore, it refers to the accumulation of fluid around the knee joint. This swelling can be caused by many things, including arthritis, osteoarthritis, cysts, gout, tumour or infection. Usually when there's injury to your knee, the brain's automatic response is to surround the knee with a protective fluid.

Funny Bone
Do you ever hit your elbow on something and feel a really INTENSE pain? That's your funny bone! Well actually, not really - it's even a bone at all! It's the ulnar nerve, which runs along the inside of your elbow, gives you feeling in your fourth and fifth fingers and controls some movement in your hand.

Hitting your funny bone is a very strange feeling - it happens when the ulnar nerve is bumped up against the humerus (a long bone which goes from the elbow to the shoulder). Many people use the idiom funny bone to describe a sense of humour: for example, "that joke really tickled my funny bone" means that person found your joke funny.

Charley Horse
A charley horse is an idiom for a sudden cramp in the leg or foot. In Britain, this afflication is known as a dead leg. The etymology of this name possibly could have come from American baseball slang in the 1880s - from a pitcher named Charlie Radbourn, who apparently suffered from a lot of cramps.

Writer's Cramp
Writer's cramp is that soreness in your wrist you get when you write too much! A loss of muscle precision in your hand, as well as trembling, can be early signs of writer's cramp. It's also known by mogigraphia or scrivener's palsy.

The Ankle Bone's Connected to the Knee Bone
Ah, this one's not a medical condition! It's actually an expression which comes from a children's song-rhyme called "Dem Bones" or "Dry Bones". This song is actually a traditional spiritual - a song sung by black slaves in early America. It's used to teach basic anatomy to children. The lyrics are actually based on the Bible - a reference to the prophet Ezekiel who visits the Valley of Dry Bones and brings them to life by mentioning God's name. The song starts off something like this:

Toe bone connected to the foot bone
Foot bone connected to the leg bone
Leg bone connected to the knee bone…

Wish Bone
The wishbone is an easy way to remember the bone known as the furcula. It's a clavicle bone that looks like two bones joined together - it's shaped like the letter Y. It's only found in birds.

If two people take one side of each bone and pull it, the one gets the longer part will have their wish granted - that's why it's called a wishbone! This tradition is often played when people eat chicken or turkey, usually at Thanksgiving.

Bread Basket
"Bread basket" is the stomach in the Operation game. The stomach is never really called the bread basket - but I suppose the makers of the game decided this would be a cute pun - since the stomach is the place where food (like bread) sits - hence the bread basket. When people refer to "breadbasket" today, it usually refers to a geographical region that is vital to a country because of its great agriculture.

Brain Freeze
In 2003, fans got to vote for a new Operation piece - the winning piece, beating out tennis elbow and growling stomach, was Brain Freeze. A brain freeze is that headache you get after you eat really cold foods like ice cream, especially if you eat them quickly. 1 in 3 people get brain freeze.

How does brain freeze work? Well, the cold food touches the top of your mouth and your blood vessels constrict. The nerves send a signal to the brain to open the blood vessels. The rapid opening of these vessels makes fluid back up in the tissues which won't drain for about a minute or so. This causes some swelling in the forehead. The best way to prevent brain freeze is to take your time when eating something cold! Or you could just not eat ice cream…but I don't think that would be a viable solution for me.