By now, I'm assuming some unsuspecting person has come across my blog and wondered why I am doing all of these postings on a late Friday night.
It's because I'm an INTJ and I've been around people all day and evening and can now actually think. But, because of this all the words are coming out quickly and I can't type fast enough to get it all down and out of my head.
Believe me, you are not getting the half of it. The other is written in other hidden blogs.
Anyway, my prior blog post about neck wrinkles, got me to thinking about Adam's Apples.
My family knows that I find these neck protrusions completely disgusting. Necks are not attractive in the first place and adding anything that draws attention to them is all the more undesirable. Some have the Adam's Apple (men), others the Eve's pear (woman - and, a family joke), neck wrinkles (me), or tree trunk roots (thin people that when they clinch their teeth can see this effect in the mirror).
Long ago when I was in college and taking on all possible jobs available, especially during the summer months, I worked weekend evenings at a drug store. This was when the riff raff came through and got all the sin tax products (alcohol, cigarettes, etc.) in abundance. For my viewing pleasure, a guy with a hole in his throat would always come in to order cigarettes. He would have to hold down the flap of skin on his throat when he talked at which point I started talking to myself saying "Look at the eyes, look at the eyes, look at the eyes" and try to refrain from putting my hand over my own throat as if some vicarious hole had formed on my own.
Now, don't get me wrong. I have a lot of empathy for those that have throat health issues due to nothing beyond their control. I talked a special ed class with the cutest little girl that had a trach in her neck and it was hard to watch her at times, but she tried really hard to function like a normal kid.
However, this is different. These people had a choice to stop doing what caused it and didn't. You know, kind of like how I have a choice to stop eating cookies, but don't. Yep, so I realize I'm not perfect at this either.
Anyway, back to Adam's apples. I have a really hard time watching people who have these protrusions. It looks like something is going to rip their throat open any minute and well, I will admit that it would be a little creepy seeing a throat get cut open. Yuck!
The funniest part of Adam's apples is looking up the definition. I found it on MedicineNet.com and thought I'd share just in case you wanted to know what it was and where the name came from:
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/hp.asp
Adam's apple: A familiar anatomic feature in the front of the neck that is due to the forward protrusion of the thyroid cartilage, the largest and most prominent cartilage of the larynx.
The thyroid cartilage tends to enlarge at adolescence, particularly in males. Enlargement of the Adam's apple is considered one of the secondary sexual characteristics.
Origin of the term: It is usually said that Adam's apple takes its name from the biblical story about Adam, Eve. the serpent and the apple. A piece of the forbidden fruit stuck in Adam's throat and created the anatomic Adam's apple. So the story goes. However, it may be wrong.
Adam's apple in Latin is "pomum Adami." This may have been a mistranslation of the Hebrew "tappuach ha adam" which also means male bump. Between Latin and English there's many a slip.
Alternate term: The medical term (which is rarely used) for the Adam's apple is "prominentia laryngea" (prominence of the larynx).
No comments:
Post a Comment