When I was in hospital I had to have a cannula fitted, that's thewossname they put in your hand in case they have to fix you up to a drip (a bit like a blind date really).

Anywho I've now got phlebitis (just checked the spelling of that by googleing it and you can buy it on eBay!) which is a swollen vein but sounds like something you would go to the vets for.

The nurses who take blood samples from you at the doctors are called phlebotomists, you'd think they'd rather be called something else wouldn't you (vampires would be an improvement).

I do so love the English language, put together by someone at a pick n mix counter. I love looking up the meanings and derivations of words, phlebotomy is from the Greek word for a vein by the way.

I also love working my way back through derivations, for example: Robert means 'fame-bright'. Fame is from the Greek phanai 'to say', and bright is from the OE byrht, beorht from the Goth bairhts meaning clear. Therefore you could say that Robert means speaking clearly, which of course he does (on a good day, with a following wind).

How boring it would be if we didn't have such a varied and interesting history, we would have to resort to nicking words from other languages just to liven it up a bit (a bit like Welsh really).