Body Parts with Silly Names Trivia Quiz

Answer: cauda equina

"Cauda equina" means horse tail - I know lots of people who resemble a horse's behind, but the image of a horse's tail sticking out makes me laugh. I made up the rest of the answers.

Answer: brain

It really resembles a traffic roundabout - I wonder if the red blood cells have as much trouble merging and getting off on the right exit as I do?

Answer: humerus

And of course, your "funny bone" is at the end of it . . .

Answer: armpit

As with most medical terms, it arises from the Greek. It probably relates to the word "axis," since it occurs at the joining of the arm and torso. The word is awfully dignified for its meaning. Maxilla is the upper bone of the jaw (the mandible is the mobile, lower bone). It is especially humorous when someone says "axilla" when they mean "maxilla." New type of moustache, I imagine.

Answer: memory and emotion

Part of the limbic system, the amygdala is important in Pavlovian classical conditioning. I couldn't watch "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" without laughing at Queen Amidala's name.

Answer: cremaster

In females, the muscle fibers are incorporated in the round ligament which helps suspend the uterus. In males, the cremasteric reflex can be elicited by stroking the inner thigh downward. According to Wikipedia (I could not verify with other references), it hails from a Greek word meaning "I hang". The other given options are real names of muscles also.

Answer: kidney

The loop of Henle is part of the tubules which concentrate and secrete various ions in the urine. There are gazillions of them in each kidney. To me, it sounds like a button closure on a polo shirt.

Answer: space of Disse

Finger-like projections of the liver cells extend into the space of Disse to absorb substances from the plasma. The space may be obliterated by disease, reducing the liver's ability to absorb toxins or store fat-soluble vitamins. If there is a space of Disse, is there a space of Dat?

The lines of Zahn are a feature of blood clots, the digastric fossa is inside the temporal bone (part of the skull) and the ductus endolymphaticus is in your inner ear.

Answer: eye socket

Located on the inner surface of the eye socket or orbit, this paper thin piece of bone is all that separates the eye from the ethmoid sinuses located by the bridge of your nose. Sometimes infection in these sinuses ruptures through into the orbit, leading to a very serious infection and occasionally blindness. Perhaps we need to be built of something more sturdy than ancient Egyptian parchment.

Answer: Sphincter of Oddi

Thought I'd finish up with something "odd." To top it off, this sphincter is located at the similarly oddly named Ampulla of Vater. Dysfunction of this sphincter is big business for gastroenterologists - such dysfunction causes abdominal pain and may be associated with recurrent pancreatitis. The incorrect choices are all real structures as well.