Almost all of us have heard the word ’serendipity’ or we are aware of the concept of ‘the discovery of something not sought.’
It is commonly taken for granted that the discoveries were good ones, hence the word is almost synonymous with unexpected good fortune.
Serendipity
–noun
1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.
2. good fortune; luck: the serendipity of getting the first job she applied for.
Etymology: 1754 (but rare before 20c.), coined by Horace Walpole (1717-92) in a letter to Mann (dated Jan. 28); he said he formed it from the Persian fairy tale “The Three Princes of Serendip,” whose heroes “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.” The name is from Serendip, an old name for Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), from Arabic Sarandib, from Skt. Simhaladvipa “Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island.” Serendipitous formed c.1950.
I would like to know is if there is a word which means the opposite of the accepted definition of ’serendipity,’ i.e., the unexpected discovery of something bad.
This is part of any doctor’s day-to-day practice, more so if you are a radiologist.
For instance, you get a 17-year-old high school student who has been sent for a CT scan of the Brain. The kid has his public board exams in a few weeks and he complains of constant headache and inability to study. The neurologist thinks it is most likely to be nothing more serious than tension headache or migraine, but wants the scan for completion’s sake. The scan shows a glioma in the thalamus.
What do you call that?
Serendipity doesn’t sound right.
Any suggestions?
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I call this a “Bolt from the Blue.” Lightning coming out of blue sky.
“Snake Bit” is another term used here in the Southeast US.
Sad story.
Rob
I wasn’t shuffling. It just put that in automatically. Cookies can be bad things.
Hi Vijay…thanks a ton for your email..heres a confession abt the word serendipidity…i have a hard time pronouncing it right…lol
No suggestions Vijay. What a sad discovery. Young lad looking forward to the future with hope and now a totally different scenario to the endured. Does it make you glad to be the radiologist and not having to give the bad news directly to the patient and his parents?
jmb
Courtesy of simply messing around on Google I found “Design” and “Misfortune.”
*shrug*
The discovery of what we don’t want to know= “Zemblanity”…An ugly word for an ugly diagnosis.
Thank you Cathy. Searching for more info on zemblanity, I came across the perfect site for obscure words …..worthless word for the day, which I promptly added to my sidebar
Highly recommended for compulsive wilfers.
Thanks PtAnon, I think Cathy got the right one.
Symbiosis: I find that strange as there is only one more syllable than your blog pseudonym!!
A very astute question JMB. Typical of your ability to get to the crux. The short answer is “Yes. I’m thankful I don’t have to break the horrible news.” I think I’ll make a separate post of the long version.
Rob: Both ‘Bolt from the Blue’ and ‘Snake Bit’ fit the bill. I’ve heard ‘Googly‘ being used here in my cricket-crazy country.
I thought of deleting the parenthetic tags from your initial comment and deleting the second one. But better sense prevailed
I hope you don’t mind my popping in. I can’t repeat what I’d call that finding. It wouldn’t be angel like - that’s for sure!
oh hell Vijay.
Diagnosis of thalamic glioma is probably just a mistake.
Doctors, like everybody else, make them all of the time.
Follow up on this case, didn’t the boy turn out fine and aced his boards?
It wasn’t his rt. thalamus, was it? It was the left or maybe just an error.