Why Anatomy is Like Learning Swedish

Perhaps if I had taken my mother's advice and studied Latin in high school, instead of French, I would have saved myself considerable trouble in my career as a vet student.  But Latin was boring, and my mother was (obviously) out to make me erudite, isolated, and miserable, so French it was.  I barreled happily forward on a high school trip to France without a tinge of regret (one doesn't generally practice one's Latin in sidewalk cafes, mother)... until now.

Let's consider a sentence.  "The fine structure and micropinocytotic capabilities of epithelial cells closely associated with lymphoid follicles in the chicken bursa of Fabricius, rabbit appendix, and mouse Peyer's patch were compared."*

And now, a quote from the front page of the Ikea website:  "Hosting needn't be a hassle with our range of extendable dining tables and beautiful dinnerware... Henriksdal-- chair cover, long; Ingolf--chair; Diod--glass; Ingatorp--extendable table."

At first glance these may appear quite different, but let's consider some vocabulary from the two examples:
Bursa of Fabricius
Ingolf
Diod
Pinocytosis

To the uninitiated, all four of these terms may be equally incomprehensible.  And while taking Latin would probably not have helped me know that an "Ingolf" is a chair, and a "Diod" is a glass, it would certainly have helped me realize that "bursa" is medieval Latin for a purse, or bag.  And that's exactly what the bursa of Fabricius is: a bizarre little bag, unique to birds, that is the site of hematopoesis, or the synthesis of blood cells.  Had I brushed up on my Greek, I'd have known that "pino" meant "to drink," and could have deduced that pinocytosis was the drinking up of exogenous particles by engulfing them.

As it is, many of these Latin and Greek-derived words really might as well be Swedish to me.  And, while lovely resources such as Wikipedia** and the beloved Black's Veterinary Dictionary are ready and willing to aid us in our quest for enlightenment, sometimes it would just be easier to know the damn things.

*I may not have listened to my mother about Latin, but I did pay attention about citing sources, so:
Bockman, DE and Cooper.  "Pinocytosis by epithelium associated with lymphoid follicles in the 
        bursa of Fabricius, appendix, and Peyer's patches."  An electron microscopic study.  American 
        Journal of Anatomy 136(4). 1973, 455-477.
 **I scoffed at Wikipedia when it first started gaining popularity, arguing that it was poorly-moderated and unreliable.  Once I started taking chemistry, I began to realize its tremendous value as a quick reference (not to mention a source of pre-calculated molecular weights).  So, in defense of Wikipedia, it has become a really excellent starting place for further research, and that is invaluable.  Our knowledge is so much greater when we combine it.