Pop Goes the Femur
A Bone By Any Other Name
OK, I see where you're coming from, but...
Make Mine Generic
Left from Right
100
The 1980's song, "My Brain is Like a Sieve", by cell phone technology wizard, Thomas Dolby, might have been referring to this cranial bone.
What is the ethmoid bone. [Both "ethmoid" and "cribriform" refer to sieves. The sieve-like appearance is due to the many olfactory foramina that perforate the cribriform plate and through which the olfactory nerves pass from the nasal cavity into the brain.]
100
Although called the "funny bone", if you bump your ulnar nerve against the posterior of it's medial epicondyle, you may not find it very humorous.
What is the humerus. [Oddly, this name seems to refer to the shoulder rather than the arm]
100
Fib! You long, skinny liar!
What is the fibula. [Fib-u-liar ---> fibula]
100
A bumpy area near but not part of a synovial joint that is used as a site of attachment.
What is an epicondyle.
100
Blunt in the front. Bumpy in the back. Lay down that groove.
What is a rib. [Ribs are blunt where they articulate with costal cartilage, bumpy-- tubercle, neck, & head-- where they articulate with vertebrae, and the costal groove is on the bottom medial part of the body extending forward from the angle]
200
Don't confuse me with a Hawaiian TV PI-- I'm the hole through which the spinal cord passes.
What is the foramen magnum. [Magnum PI was a TV show in the 1980's]
200
Like a little ship in a shoe-bound navy, it sails away from the cuboid between the talus and the cuneiforms.
What is navicular bone of the foot. [The name literally means "little ship"]
200
Cocka-doodle-doo! (a structure)
What is the crista galli of the ethmoid bone. [Crista is "crest" and galli is "chicken"; the scientific name for chicken is Gallus gallus; the appearance of the crista galli resembles the comb atop a rooster's head]
200
A smooth, flat articular surface.
What is a facet. [The word means little face-- think of the many facets cut into a gemstone.]
200
Oh, that conoid tubercle! It's such a pil.
What is the clavicle. [More or less, the conoid tubercle is located Posteriorly, Inferiorly, and Laterally-- P-I-L-- on the clavicle]
300
This paired facial bone with a sinus and several processes and other features is what you'd get if Godzilla was cast as the lead character in "Where the Wild Things Are".
What is the maxilla. [Max + Godzilla = Maxilla]
300
This composite structure is formed by parts from each of the three coxal bones and named for a cup used by ancient Greeks and Romans to hold vinegar (aka acetic acid). For us, it holds a head.
What is the acetabulum. [The acetabulum of the os coxa articulates with the head of the femur]
300
Whether crossed or side-by-side, we're both stylish about the wrist, but one of us is retro with bell-bottoms while the other is more urbane in those skinny jeans.
What are the radius and the ulna. [Just look at them!]
300
More pronounced than a line, but longer and less pronounce than a spine.
What is crest.
300
Outside, a bit forward (some might even say "cheeky"), but inside, solid as a rock.
What is the temporal bone of the cranium. [Sends the zygomatic process toward the zygomatic, or cheek, bone; the lower, internal region is called the petrous part (petrous means "resembling rock")]
400
They say this long bone Shaft is a marrow filled... Shut your mouth But I'm just talkin' 'bout Shaft Then we can dig it
What is the diaphysis. [The word means something like grow through or between; at each end there is an epiphysis]
400
These three foot bones are named for their wedge shapes-- like the wedge-shaped tools and marks in clay tablets that constitute the earliest known forms of writing.
What are the medial, intermediate & lateral cuneiform bones.
400
Like driving to the office with your coworkers to share the expenses, but say it with marbles in your mouth.
What are carpal bones.
400
A broad, shallow depressed area.
What is fossa.
400
Spine in the back, glenoid fossa lateral.
What is the scapula.
500
Like the second female Secretary of State, this generic structure is a bit curvacious, always smooth, and there to make connections.
What is a condyle. [Condaleeza Rice---> CONDALeeza]
500
This facial bone gets it's name from a composite structure to which it contributes a process. That structure is vaguely reminiscent of a yoke-- the collar-like harness use to link a pair draft animals together to carts etc. You know what else has yokes? Fertilized eggs (aka zygotes, after the joining together of a sperm and an ovum).
What is the zygomatic bone. [It contributes the temporal process as the anterior part of the zygomatic arch, which is sometimes called the zygoma]
500
A short canal or tunnel with a single opening.
What is a meatus.
500
Pubis in the front. Ischium in the back. Acetabulum lateral.
What is os coxa.
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