It takes two to tickle.

"Tickle (middle English, tikelen: "to touch lightly") is a tingling, itch sensation produced by light external moving stimuli and may be pleasurable or irritating. Light tickling ('knimesis') may or may not induce laughter. Heavy tickling ('gargalesis') may also produce laughter but may be perceived as annoying and often includes a withdrawal response.

Heavy tickling by oneself of one's own body does not lead to laughter. Imaging studies suggest that the cerebellum anticipates the tickling movement, thus unconsciously nullifying the required element of surprise." - Dr. King's neuroscience lecture notes, Nociceptive (Pain) Pathways

Tickling is processed by the same neurological pathway as pain. Now, that explains my love/hate relationship with being tickled.

One of my favorite things about medicine is how normal things become exponentially funnier when explained in scientific terms. We use esoteric terms for everything (e.g. emesis = puking; hirsutism = excessive hairiness on a female vs. hypertrichosis = excessive hairiness on a male or female; redundant tissue = FAT - the list goes on).

Clearly this is done for precision, and a doctor's knowledge encompasses the subtleties of human anatomy, physiology and pathology, but there is just something ridiculous about all of these new words you must learn in order to grasp even an ounce of doctor-doctor conversation.

After years of training and practice, it must be easy to forget how abnormal this lingo is, increasing the rift between doctors and the rest of the world, patients included.

So, think before you tell your patient that they have a calcified melatonin-producing gland rostro-dorsal to their superior colliculus visualized on skull x-ray. They might think something is wrong.