Thagomizer: Noun.
From the Neanderthal. Meaning: To whack. Mightily.
However, at least one famous cartoonist found science, and scientists, hilarious. And science has returned his appreciation of their work with some love of their own.
But such piffling details as 140 million years didn’t stop cartoonist Gary Larson, in a Far Side comic published in 1982, to depict a science class of Neanderthals being taught stegosaurus anatomy, with the lecturer pointing to the tail, saying –“Now this end is called the thagomizer… After the late Thag Simmons.”
Hence the ‘thagomizer.’
Funny, right?
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term – a very small proportion of our readers, admittedly, but we know you’re out there – ‘thagomizer’ is used to describe the arrangement of particularly nasty-looking spikes at the tip of a stegosaur’s tail. Likely used for defensive purposes, the spikes would also have been deadly for any caveman. If, of course, cavemen had been around 140 million years earlier than they actually existed.
Science students thought so, and began using the term as slang for any spikey projections on dinosaur’s tails. Eventually, the term entered the lexicon, and ‘thagomizer’ is now the official term for the four spikes of a stegosaur’s tail. Granted, you still won’t find it in Webster’s. But, hey, paleontologists are nothing if not patient. You ever try uncovering a 20-foot skeleton with a 4-inch paintbrush? It’s no joke how much patience that takes!
It’s a well-known fact – or is it? – scientists are not usually known for their sense of humour.
By: Allen Gibson