Pronounced /soo'doph a gus/ - n., a false esophagus.
"During an operation for cancer of the esophagus the surgeon formed an esophageal extension to my stomach," explains Tim McElroy. "Upon learning of this work, I asked him if this extension could be medically referred to as a 'pseudophagus'. He stared at me blankly, shrugged his shoulders, and went on about his rounds."
Always suckers for new medical and scientific names the metaplasm staff does not understand the doctor's apparent indifference to Tim's metaplastic breakthrough. We suspect he put on a poker face while rushing off to have the new word published under his name in Lancet or the New England Journal of Medicine. (Originally posted October 9, 2003)
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