Topic: Pokemon no longer causes cancer.

[KDR_11k]

Under threat of legal action scientists renamed the 'Pokemon gene', one of the genes responsible for cancer, to "Zbtb7".

[nitsu niflheim]

I just don't understand why they would even name a gene that causes cancer something that causes joy in millions of people.  The only thing I can think of is the person(s) that came up with the name just didn't like Pokemon and were trying to be jerks.

[KnowsNothing]

I thought it was pretty funny.  Pokemon spread like cancer, it's a joke, people!  The most amazing part is that there's a scientist out there with a decent sense of humor.

[BiLdItUp1]

It's retarted how they fault Nintendo for the epileptic seizure thing. They're the only ones that have a gigantic red WARNING MAY CAUSE EPILEPSY warnings on their games, for pete's sake.

[odifiend]

um... nitsu, POK Erythroid Myeloid ONtogenic gene.  Same reason scientists don't care that AIDS is a verb synonymous with help.  I was hoping it was a joke all the same lines as KN.  Scientists do have senses of humor, but sadly it is generally centered around puns and other lower forms of humor like that.
BiL - there was a pokemon episode that caused seizures in Japan, that is what they are refering to here.

[nitsu niflheim]

I'm sure that they came up with that name just so they could take a jab at pokemon.  

[nickmitch]

Quote
Originally posted by: odifiend
um... nitsu, POK Erythroid Myeloid ONtogenic gene.  Same reason scientists don't care that AIDS is a verb synonymous with help.  I was hoping it was a joke all the same lines as KN.  Scientists do have senses of humor, but sadly it is generally centered around puns and other lower forms of humor like that.
BiL - there was a pokemon episode that caused seizures in Japan, that is what they are refering to here.

Well, they could have called it POKERMYON.

[odifiend]

Sure, they could have... but of course that has more syllables and what is the point of an abbrevation again, folks?

[ruby_onix]

Quote
Originally posted by: odifiend
um... nitsu, POK Erythroid Myeloid ONtogenic gene.  Same reason scientists don't care that AIDS is a verb synonymous with help.

AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is an accurate acronym.

The gene in question here (POK Erythroid Myeloid Ontogenic) should be "POKEMO" or maybe "POK EMO" and doesn't have any weird accents, so it shouldn't be pronounced anything near "Pokémon".

And yeah, maybe the people who discover things are allowed to name them, and they don't have to strictly use acronyms of their descriptions. But Pokemon is a very specific noun, and Nintendo has a right to protect their trademark.

I don't doubt that the scientists felt they were paying Pokemon a compliment when they named that gene, but naming a disease after someone/something isn't a very good compliment, and sometimes it can do more harm than good.

The scientists should've just called it "Pokemo" and let everyone else casually refer to it as Pokemon. If they really wanted to call it Pokemon, then the only people they can blame are the people in the media who ran the stories saying "Pokemon causes cancer" purely because of the shock value attached to the name, and not for a real interest in their work.

[odifiend]

Ruby, I never said acronym.  I said abbreviation.  Check out these ones:
AZT is an abbreviation for the name azidothymidine.
Lysergic acid diethylamide, better known as LSD.

Nintendo should protect their trademark, but the scientists I'm sure abbreviated it the way they did, so it would be easier to remember (and their pun-centered sense of humor I was talking about earlier likely came into play as well).  It is probably idiotic journalists that took notice.

[KDR_11k]

Many people adjust acronyms to have meanings if they end up close to a word. E.g. USAPATRIOT Act, CAN-SPAM.