Betwixt
There once was a fellow named Sphen, Who'd freeze up your brain now and then. With a smirk and his gun, He'd declare it great fun. You'd been warned. He won't say it again.
Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia. Sounds like a creature from outer space, doesn’t it?
But it’s actually a real thing.
Sphen comes from the Greek "sphen," meaning wedge — a reference to the wedge-shaped bone in your skull.
Palatine comes from the Latin "palatum," meaning the roof of your mouth.
Ganglion is Greek for a knot of nerve tissue.
And "neuralgia" comes from the Greek "neuron" for nerve and "algos" for pain.
So the full translation of brain freeze is essentially: wedge-palate-nerve-knot-pain.
Don’t worry, Sphen can’t pronounce it either.
Sphen likes to fancy himself the villain of the ice cream parlor. Who would be scared of a little blue guy with a bowl cut?
Nevertheless, he likes to come in every other Thursday with his homemade retro ice gun. If someone is eating their Chocolate Mango Froo Froo Sundae too fast, he zaps their brain.
He says it’s to remind them to slow down. Everyone else says it’s because he’s just cranky cause he misses his space adventures fighting the Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia on planet Splurge.
Sphen is a character, not a diagnosis. Sphen is not about brain freeze any more than a kid is about their hair color. Please introduce them as a neighbor.
But you don't have to miss out on all the new residents and new hood construction.
Gossip loves keeping everyone up to date on what's happening. If you sign up for the field notes, she'd be happy to sit on the porch with you once a month.
She promises to write only once a month to start. She'd write more often, but we only have so much tea to spill.