h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Is there any reason why Americans spell cardio- with a K rather than a C?

Well, I don't know any particular reason. You might perhaps want to read the Entry about "Medical Jargon", found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A455979 . It explains some of the medical phrases, like the word -kardia-, meaning heart.

It is a word of greek origin, and was spelt with a k, (greek: kappa). There was no such thing as a "c" in Greek. This might lead to the conclusion that the Americans with their "K" in EKG are right and the British with the "C" are wrong.

However, it's not necessarily true. The Romans, who were the cultural inheritors of the Greek (sorry, historians, I know this is a crude simplification) hardly ever used a "k". They had the letter "C" which replaced the Greek Kappa in all of the loan words.

It might also be interesting to know that the latin "C" was always pronounced as a "k", and not sometimes as a "k", sometimes as a "ts". So "Julius Caesar" would have sounded somehow similar to "Yuleeus Ka-eesar". Don't ask me how they found that out, lacking tapes or record of that era (These *would* be oldies ).

Hope this helps

Jeremy

And, just by the way:

Your User Number is U150417: (1+5+0x4x1)x1x7=42

the thing with EKG is for consistency American heart doctors should be kardiologists

in the days when I had to perform ECGs I would say to the patient "i'm just going to do ECT" and none of them ran off the bed screaming