this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023
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What's a word you've spent a long time not using right? (lemm.ee)
submitted 11 months ago by shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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Just recently I was in a conversation with a number of UK mainlanders and we had a debate over what "tories" meant, apparently disproportionately ordinarily it refers to a political party and it's not usual to use it as short for "territories" as I've used it (according to how the debate ended, it was half and half between them). And once again I'm reminded of how people feel to look back at their usage of a word/phrase over the years and cringe.

More tragically, me and a friend were embarrassed once upon realizing everyone was confusing "encephalitis" with "hydrocephalus" when talking to someone about their kid with hydrocephalus. Awkward because encephalitis is caused by HIV.

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[–] aelwero@lemmy.world 40 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Encephalitis is caused by viral infections. Our immune system usually suppresses said viruses, and HIV takes away the ability to suppress them.

This happens with a lot of illnesses... thrush, Tuberculosis, fungal infections. HIV allows a lot of stuff to have far worse impact than it normally would.

That's not quite the same as HIV causing them... Pedantic maybe, but since we're talking about words meaning things... ;)

[–] LanternEverywhere@kbin.social 23 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Encephalitis literally just means "in the brain inflammation".

https://www.etymonline.com/word/encephalitis

This brain inflammation can be caused by many things. Quote from Mayo Clinic:

Encephalitis is inflammation of the brain. There are several causes, including viral infection, autoimmune inflammation, bacterial infection, insect bites and others.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/encephalitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20356136

[–] zzzz@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

It can also be caused by prions. Mad cow disease is aka bovine spongiform encephalitis. I believe the word just indicates cell death in the brain which leaves regions of dead tissue.