This week saw a man charged with serial rape and assaults on elderly people in south-east London.
The man was arrested as part of an operation to catch: "The Night Stalker" - a name, like so many in the history of serial attackers, that sounds exciting and powerful – other examples being the Monster of Mirmichi, The Beast of Montmatre and The Fox.
Far better, you’d have thought, to use a moniker that fits the crime – something that reflects the so-called Night Stalker’s level of dysfunction and cowardliness. "The Slug of South London" perhaps – something, in other words that has none of the cachet of his current nickname.
But as it is, we humans are quite coy about being too descriptive about unpleasant things – it’s not just our criminals that we name inappropriately but also our diseases.
For example, a survey a while back by the Terrence Higgins Trust, found that one in ten men thinks Chlamydia is a flower.
And who can blame them for their ignorance because actually Chlamydia does indeed sound like something aesthetically pleasing with a charming scent.
Chlamydia is not the only misnamed disease. Candida, I would venture could be a pretty name for a girl, a heart murmur sounds as though it ought to be comforting like the purr of a cat, and if you try saying: "I have Huntington’s Chorea" in a posh voice it sounds like a mark of distinction, like a peerage.
Of course I’m not the only one that has notice these things.
A growing movement of Internet-users has developed with the agenda of recycling medical names and putting them to "better" use.
There is an online forum called: "Medical conditions that would also make great names for your pet monkey" (seriously, there is) and another called: Medical conditions that would make awesome band names’ – popular suggestions include: "The Clap", "Spastic Colon" and "Halitosis".
My personal favourite, however, is "Ectodermal dysplasia" which the writer suggests would make a great name for a "super experimental German electronic group".
I can scarcely wait for their debut release.
