Thagomizer

Thursday, July 13th, 2006

I vaguely remembered the Thagomizer. What I didn’t realize was that the term has been adopted by paleontologists:

Whatever was the original word for the stegosaurus’ spiked tail, if it indeed ever had one, “thagomizer” has, since the Far Side publication, been adopted as a genuine anatomical term, and is used by multiple palaeontological authorities, including the Smithsonian Institution.[1]

“Now this end is called the thagomizer, after the late Thag Simmons.”

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