prion

[Jonathan Lighter]

Renamed from what?

JL

On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 4:40 PM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      prion
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>
> Pondering the (probable) proverb "Rename it and claim it," I encountered a
> limerick that is said to have satirized Stanley B. Prusiner's coining of the
> term _prion_ (OED n.2). It appears in Kurt Link, _Understanding New,
> Resurgent, and Resistant Diseases_ (Westport CT: Praeger, 2007) 163 (endnote
> 4; the limerick is printed as prose):  "There was a young Turk named Stan
> who embarked on a devious plan. 'If I simply rename it, I'm sure I can claim
> it,' said Stan as he pondered his scam."
>
> --Charlie
>
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