Abdomen

The Abdomen Region My life to date would have gone a whole lot easier if someone had told me that the abdomen is not, in fact, an organ, but rather a region of the body — “the region of the body of a vertebrate between the thorax and the pelvis” says the dictionary.

I’ve been walking around for 37 years thinking that we all have a vestigal organ called the abdomen; I never knew exactly what it did, but figured that just meant it wasn’t all that important. Sometimes I’d hear about people getting “kicked in the abdomen” or having a “pain in the abdomen,” but I must admit that I never heard of someone “getting their abdomen removed.”

I will make a point of telling Oliver about the abdomen soon, so he isn’t similary held back.

Comments

Alan's picture
Alan on February 28, 2003 - 17:46 Permalink

Likewise, the mid-section and the solar plexis. I think a large part of this general misunderstanding can be placed squarely at the door of the producers of Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling on ATV Saturday afternoons in the 70’s. These critical areas on the body were the target of most of the climactic moves of the Cuban Assassin et al.

Oliver Baker's picture
Oliver Baker on March 1, 2003 - 03:37 Permalink

I bet you got messed up when you learned insect biology. Not that abdomens are organs in insects either, but they are distinct, and I recall teachers always fussing about it in comparing insects to spiders and ants to bees etc. Nevertheless, there’s no excuse for ignorance and I’m glad you’ve straightened yourself out and repented. An organ, my word!