Comments on: Paging All Linguists for a Caesarean Dissection

By: Greg White

Greg White — Tue, 01 May 2007 02:55:22 +0000

In the 1998 movie Blade Cesarian section is how Blade is born when his mother Vanessa was attacked by a vampire while pregnant with him.This is shown in a flashback to 1967.When he grows up Blade whose real name is Eric discovers that his mother came back as a vampire he kills her to lift her curse.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:39:06 +0000

Usage seems to be about 50/50 worldwide, although “Caesarean” appears to be considered more British (by Americans, anyway). But his name is still Julius Caesar, and not Cesar, isn’t it?

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 21:31:05 +0000

My wife is an RN in an OB-GYN facility, and says that the term originated because Julius Ceasar was delivered by that method. Wikipedia makes mention of that possibility as well.

Could very well be a nice tale, like Romulus & Remus (or is that true?)

By: Carol

Carol — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 15:24:17 +0000

When I was attempting to teach Macbeth to high school students, I would often use the example of a c-section as a way of explaining why Macduff could kill Macbeth – he (Macduff that is) was untimely ripped from his mother’s womb. It’s off topic but so much of life is.

By: Dana

Dana — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 22:21:01 +0000

I remember reading that c-sections were invented long, long ago by either arab or muslim doctors, and that it became a life saving technique in cases of blocked births. Has anyone heard anything similiar?

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 19:11:08 +0000

I’d be the first one to sheepishly admit a spelling error, but in this case I’m not wrong. Both are accepted, though Betsy’s preferred spelling is more widely used.

Like guerrilla and guerilla, and some other examples.

(I really hope none of these words are spelled incorrectly.)

By: moonablaze

moonablaze — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 18:44:57 +0000

My mother is an ob-gyn, and medical slang for cesarean is “c-section.” I didn’t find out that it was short for something until I was well into my teens. Before that I asumed it was named for the shape of the cut.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 17:38:25 +0000

Caesarean simply includes the ‘ae’ diphthong, which is often now dropped because of phonetic/orthographic changes in English, right? It’s just an older way of spelling it, as far as I know.

By: Betsy

Betsy — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 15:32:50 +0000

As Alice indicated, it’s not spelled “Caesarean” anyway; it’s “Cesarean.”

By: Alice H

Alice H — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 15:19:42 +0000

I remember reading somewhere, but I couldn’t tell you where, that the phrase ‘cesarean section’ is redundant, because both mean cutting, and the correct term is ‘cesarean birth’.