Why does your arm have a funny bone?
Question
When you bang your elbow, why is the bone known as the funny bone?
Ben, Islington
Answer
** Definitive **
Name: Rob, Uxbridge Road
Qualification: O Level Latin and biology
Answer: The medical name for the bone in Latin is the "humerus", so funny bone came from that.
Name: Obinna
Qualification: Medical student
Answer: I disagree. First of all the question wasn't about the origins of the name 'funny bone', secondly the correct answer is that the tingling sensation experienced when hitting the 'funny bone' is due to you hitting the ulnar nerve which runs through the elbow and supplies sensation to the little finger and middle finger and part of the medial aspect of the forearm. This is why you feel the sensation in those place.