My Favorite Word In Medicine

Sialolithiasis.

A surgeon reminded me of this word yesterday.  

"Isn't it almost like poetry?" He said.  "Sigh-yallow-lith-eye-a-sis."

It does fall trippingly from the tongue.  It means stone formation in the gland that produces spit.

Other favorites:

electroencephalogram

fulguration

chordae tendinae

echocardiography

adenopathy

fluoroscopy

gammaglobulin

but none of these has the same flow as

sialolithiasis.

You know you're an ex-English major when after being up for almost 36 hours straight, with maybe a half-hour snooze between obstetric calls, the one salient memory you have of your work day is a surgeon admiring the word sialolithiasis with you.