Saturday night palsy
English
Etymology
Introduced mistakenly as a simplification of saturnine palsy, a complication of lead poisoning which has a similar presentation.[1]
Folk etymology associates it with carousing and intoxication on Saturday nights, which causes the individual to fall asleep in unnatural positions, such as on a chair or bed with one arm hanging over the edge.
Noun
Saturday night palsy (uncountable)
- (medicine, informal) Paralysis due to radial nerve compression in the arm, resulting from direct pressure against a firm object.
Translations
radial nerve palsy
Hyponyms
- honeymoon palsy
Related terms
- night palsy
References
- Spinner RJ, Poliakoff MB, Tiel RL (2002), “The origin of "Saturday night palsy"?”, in Neurosurgery, volume 51, issue 3, pages 737–741