Anatomy Trivia Answers (And a Little More Trivia to Boot)

You got questions?  Well I got answers.  I also got to type ‘sphincter’ five times today, and how often do you get to say that?

1.  Where is your stapes?

It is one of the bones of the inner ear, also known as the stirrup.

2.  This is the only bone not articulated with another bone (that means it is not a part of a joint).  It comes up a lot in shows like C.S.I.

The hyoid bone is a ‘U’ shaped bone that sort of floats in your neck.  They talk about it on crime dramas because a broken hyoid is a sign of strangulation.

3.  What is the tensor fascia lata?

The tensor fascia lata (pronounced FAH-sha LA-ta) is a muscle in the hip/thigh area.  Its name stuck in my head because I think it sounds like an iced coffee drink.

4.  Where do you have a sphincter – your face, your stomach or your butt?

Trick question!  There are sphincters in all three.  ‘Sphincter’ is the technical term for a muscle shaped like a doughnut, so we have them around our eyes and mouth, at pretty much every juncture of the g.i. tract, and the more commonly known anal sphincters.

5.  Where would you find the axillary region?

It’s in your armpit.  Axillary and popliteal (the back of the knee area) are two of my favorite body words.  They sound so grand compared to what they describe.

6.  What is an ester?

An ester is a chemical compound which, in the body, is one of the building blocks of fat cells.  I laughed when we learned this because, to my mind, that meant polyester fabric was ‘multi-fat’ fabric.

7.  How many phalanges does the average human have?

We have a whopping 56 phalanges, three in each finger and regular toe, two each in the thumbs and big toes.

8.  Can you name three, three-letter body parts?  There are at least ten to choose from.

Not including slang terms, here they are:  eye, ear, lip, gum, jaw, arm, rib, hip, leg, toe

9.  What exactly is a verruca?

Verruca is Latin for ‘wart’ (also ‘a steep place’ or ‘an excrescence on a precious stone’ – who knew?)

10.  How did the atlas get its name?

The atlas is the first vertebrae and it cradles the skull, much like the titan Atlas holds the world on his shoulders.

Photo Credits:

Atlas photo by Gabriel Seah (Wikipedia (english)) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Phalange photo by LadyofHats Mariana Ruiz Villarreal (made it myself) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons