Minor Medical Pet Peeve
November 18th, 2004
Filed under: Medicine
Quick medical terminology pet peeve:
The suffix -itis indicates an inflammation of something. Thus tonsilitis is inflammation of the tonsils, otitis is inflammation of the ear, appendicitis is inflammation of the appendix, and so on.
The prefix hypo- means a low level of something. For example, hypothyroidism is a low level of thyroid hormone and hypoglycemia means a low blood sugar level.
So, to the writers of that otherwise fairly clever Toyota truck ad: Your sad sack of a character would be suffering from hypoadrenalism (low adrenaline), not adrenalinitis.
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