Throw me a bone

July 29, 2009 4:43 PM

Hello! I am working on a cartoony illustration in which I am conveying physical human afflictions/parts of the anatomy that could have very literal visual translations. Some examples: a frog in your throat (temporary hoarseness because of phlegm or mucus). Tennis elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis), smoker's lung, kidney stones, funny bone (humerus).

I am trying to represent different parts of the body in a cartoony way. For tennis elbow mentioned above, I would put a tennis racket where the forearm and arm meet. For funny bone, I could have the humerus with a clown's nose or something. It's a simple concept, but I think it's rich with examples that I haven't thought of yet. Viral, bacterial infections are a possibility, though I am thinking more on the macro level. Thank you!

posted by geronimo's folly to Media & Arts (21 answers total)

Achilles tendon, Hamstring?
posted by Comrade_robot at 4:49 PM on July 29, 2009

Rhinovirus!
posted by pseudostrabismus at 4:49 PM on July 29, 2009

cauliflower ear and jock itch
posted by filthy light thief at 4:51 PM on July 29, 2009

Charley horse
Hitch hiker's thumb
Irritable bowel
Swimmer's ear
posted by palindromic at 4:54 PM on July 29, 2009

cat got your tongue
butterflies in your stomach
a stitch in your side
tongue-tied
hammer toe
dishpan hands
posted by amyms at 4:57 PM on July 29, 2009

Cotton mouth
Pink eye
Heart burn
posted by bookmammal at 5:04 PM on July 29, 2009

Prepatellar Bursitis = Housemaid's Knee
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:12 PM on July 29, 2009

Someone seems to have thought of this idea already.
posted by hhc5 at 5:14 PM on July 29, 2009

Not afflictions, but skills (or lack thereof)
Green thumb
Two left feet
posted by filthy light thief at 5:14 PM on July 29, 2009

The board game Operation has a few.
posted by jabberjaw at 5:15 PM on July 29, 2009

Trench foot

This list of doctor slang has some gems (well, perhaps for your purposes), including:

Ass Grapes - badly thrombosed or strangulated haemorrhoids
Banana - patient with jaundice
Bordeaux - bloodstained urine
Bugs in the rug - pubic lice
Bull in the ring - blockage in the large intestine
Dandruff on wheels - scabies or other transmissible flaky skin condition
Rothman's sign - tobacco staining of fingers
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:36 PM on July 29, 2009

carpal tunnel
hamstring
jock itch
hot flash
sciatica (this is a large space ship: Battlestar Sciatica---it jumps through the carpal tunnel to escape the patella)

ok I made that last bit up. Sorry.
posted by effluvia at 6:26 PM on July 29, 2009

A few more:

Blighted ovum
Chicken pox
Kidney/bladder stones
posted by palindromic at 7:02 PM on July 29, 2009

water on the knee
posted by Oriole Adams at 7:07 PM on July 29, 2009

Adam's apple.
posted by ODiV at 7:52 PM on July 29, 2009

Gaul bladder
pigeon toed
posted by Miss Otis' Egrets at 10:06 PM on July 29, 2009

knock-kneed
buck-toothed
button nose
rosy cheeks
feathered hair
posted by amyms at 10:21 PM on July 29, 2009

Nursemaid's elbow (or babysitter's elbow)
posted by bunyip at 10:40 PM on July 29, 2009

Response by poster: Some wish-I-thought-of-that good ones! Some very clever ones!

And yeah, definitely was thinking on the lines of Operation, but kinda different, somehow. Operation is clearly an inspiration, of course!
posted by geronimo's folly at 11:27 PM on July 29, 2009

runner's toe

turf toe

black lung disease

Not an affliction, but there are a whole bunch of euphemisms for a woman having her period, if you want to go there...
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:00 AM on July 30, 2009

Pins and needles
posted by genesta at 1:55 PM on July 30, 2009