Learning the Lingo
When I mark children's writing, I often see attempts at using ambitious vocabulary, which sadly do not quite suit the context. The missed bus is devastating or the petrifying loss of a water bottle. This happens because they know they are synonyms for everyday words but they are not sure of the exact meaning or implied intensity. I realise I was like this with many medical terms. If you had asked me what chronic means, I would have said really bad. So being told I had a chronic liver condition made me panic. But no, chronic means that it is long lasting, or even life-long with this condition. It doesn't have to be life-threatening. Similarly, if I had had to describe cirrhosis I would probably have conjured up a picture of something like a large gherkin in the shape of a triangle drawn by a four year old and pickled in alcohol. The shape is fairly accurate, as is the lumpy surface but there is no pickling in sight, because cirrhosis is not necessarily caused by an
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