From the depths of his copy of 'The
Lancet' Chapman sighed emphatically and declared, 'The scientific
world is plagued with sesquipedalia'.
'You mean it persists in using long
words when short words would do? How tedious', said Keats.
Chapman pointed to an article in the
magazine, 'It says here that a man, apparently ignorant of medical
terminology, consulted a chiropodist rather than a urologist
regarding a physical abnormality. Not knowing how to properly
describe his affliction the man promptly revealed proof of his
troublesome macrophallia.
With astonishing insensitivity the consultant said, “But that's not
a foot”, to which the hapless patient replied, “No, but it's a
good eleven inches”. The poor fella; not only deformed, but
humiliated'.
'A misunderstanding that would not
have occurred under the metric system', observed Keats in an effort
to take his friend's mind off the injustice of it all.
'That's true, he would have been
referred to the appropriate specialist immediately'.
'A shrink, presumably', said Keats.
Chapman chortled, relieved that
they'd managed to salvage at least a modicum of humour from such a
distressing case of penile hypertrophy.
