Convinced these give me a headache but I feel like a hypercondriac for saying so...
hyperchondriac
I can understand why people make this mistake. The word sure seems like a place where we’d use “hyper” instead of “hypo,” because it’s an above average sense of being unhealthy, and “hypo” tends to indicate below average.
However, the word “hypochondriac” comes from a Greek word meaning “under the cartilage (of the breastbone),” referring to the upper area of the abdomen, which in old school medicinal thought was where we kept our anxiety about our health.
Thus the “hypo” in “hypochondriac” has nothing to do with the amount of anxiety, but rather the imaginary location of that anxiety.
This has been Etymology Corner. Subscribe now for more pedantic nonsense about language and you’ll get a free bookmark with a rant about how “podium” and “lectern” mean different things!
Interesting :) I knew I was winging it..
I definitely remember a specific neon light over my head in class giving me a headache once, but I think it had a problem at was flickering a bit slower than normal
Flicker can trigger an epileptic attack so maybe you want to check that out you two.
Convinced these give me a headache but I feel like a hypercondriac for saying so...
I can understand why people make this mistake. The word sure seems like a place where we’d use “hyper” instead of “hypo,” because it’s an above average sense of being unhealthy, and “hypo” tends to indicate below average.
However, the word “hypochondriac” comes from a Greek word meaning “under the cartilage (of the breastbone),” referring to the upper area of the abdomen, which in old school medicinal thought was where we kept our anxiety about our health.
Thus the “hypo” in “hypochondriac” has nothing to do with the amount of anxiety, but rather the imaginary location of that anxiety.
This has been Etymology Corner. Subscribe now for more pedantic nonsense about language and you’ll get a free bookmark with a rant about how “podium” and “lectern” mean different things!
Interesting :) I knew I was winging it..
I definitely remember a specific neon light over my head in class giving me a headache once, but I think it had a problem at was flickering a bit slower than normal
Flicker can trigger an epileptic attack so maybe you want to check that out you two.