{"id":44085,"date":"2019-02-15T15:01:36","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T14:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=44085"},"modified":"2019-02-22T13:08:13","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T12:08:13","slug":"jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Dragons and rings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"jeffrey_aronson\"<\/a>My last two pieces have dealt with <\/span>dragons<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>rings<\/span><\/a>, two topics that merge in legend.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The word \u201cdragon\u201d comes from an IndoEuropean root DERK, to look at. From this came the Greek verb to look at, \u03b4\u03ad\u03c1\u03ba\u03b5\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9, whose aorist tense, \u1f14\u03b4\u03c1\u1fb0\u03ba\u03bf\u03bd, I looked, gave \u03b4\u03c1\u03ac\u03ba\u03c9\u03bd, a monster possessed of the evil eye, a dragon. Another monster whose look was fatal, the basilisk (Greek \u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03bb\u03af\u03c3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c2, literally a little king), or cockatrice, was supposedly hatched from a cock\u2019s egg by a serpent. And \u03b4\u03c1\u03ac\u03ba\u03c9\u03bd, interchangeable with \u1f44\u03d5\u03b9\u03c2, also meant a serpent. Both \u03b4\u03c1\u03ac\u03ba\u03c9\u03bd and \u1f44\u03d5\u03b9\u03c2 could also mean a serpent-shaped ring, bracelet, or necklace.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Cadmus, who founded Thebes, married Harmonia, her mother Aphrodite gave her a necklace. Roberto Calasso described it in <\/span>Le Nozze di Cadmo e Armonia<\/span><\/i><\/a> (<\/span>The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony<\/span><\/i><\/a>): \u201cIt was a snake, studded with stars, with two heads, one at each end, mouths wide open, facing each other. But neither mouth could bite the other, for caught between their teeth were two golden eagles, wings outspread, forming a clasp.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In one version of the myth, the god Hephaestos forged the necklace and gave it to his wife Aphrodite, imbuing it with evil powers, in retribution for her adulterous affair with Ares, Harmonia\u2019s father. It brought ill luck to all who possessed it. Jocasta supposedly wore it when she married her son Oedipus. Their son Polynices inherited it and gave it to Eriphyle (picture), as a bribe to persuade her husband Amphiaraus to join him in the fight to regain Thebes from Eteocles, Polynices\u2019 brother. All three died in the battle, as Aeschylus described in his play <\/span>Seven Against Thebes<\/span><\/i>. Alcmaeon, son of Amphiaraus, acquired the necklace, killed his mother for having persuaded his father to join Polynices, and himself went mad.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Polynices gives Eriphyle Harmonia\u2019s necklace, as depicted on a red-figure amphora of around the 5<\/span>th<\/span> century BC. The presence between them of a bird is a puzzle; Liddell & Scott\u2019s <\/span>Greek Lexicon<\/span><\/i> says that \u03b4\u03c1\u1fb0\u03ba\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u1f77\u03c2 is a type of bird, but doesn\u2019t specify which type; perhaps it\u2019s the one in the picture?<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Ovid, Cadmus left Thebes as a troubled old man and went wandering with Harmonia. When they reached Illyria he reflected on the dragon of Ares he had slain so many years before and attributed his ill luck to the gods\u2019 vengeance. He prayed that he might be turned into a serpent, and as he prayed both of them were transformed.<\/span><\/p>\n

A \u03b4\u03c1\u03ac\u03ba\u03c9\u03bd was also a wand with a snake twined round it, like the symbol that Eric Gill incorporated in his logo for the BMA, which used to adorn the front cover of The BMJ<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rings and dragons guarding stolen treasures feature in various myths. In Richard Wagner\u2019s opera <\/span>Das Rheingold<\/span><\/i>, the dragon Fafner (Fafnir in the original Norse myth) guards a treasure, stolen from the dwarf Alberich, which contains the Tarnhelm, a magic helmet, and the ring of the Nibelungs that gives its name to Wagner\u2019s cycle of four operas, <\/span>Der Rings des Nibelungen<\/span><\/i>, starting with <\/span>Das Rheingold<\/span><\/i>. J R R Tolkien\u2019s dragon in <\/span>The Hobbit<\/span><\/i>, Smaug, a \u201cmost specially greedy, strong and wicked worm\u201d, who guards the dwarves\u2019 stolen treasure, is based on Fafnir, and Bilbo\u2019s conversation with him in Chapter 12, while wearing the ring of invisibility, echoes Fafnir\u2019s dying conversation with Sigurd (Siegfried), who kills him.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Latin word draco meant a snake, often a sacred guardian of a treasure. It was also applied to various mythical monsters and to describe a hardened vine and an apparatus with spiral tubes used to heat water. Draconitis was a precious stone, taken from a dragon\u2019s head. And dracontion and dracunculus (a little snake) were names for plants with snake-like roots, such as <\/span>Arum dracunculus. <\/span><\/i>In postclassical Latin dracunculus became dranculus, which in Anglo-Saxon became rauncle, a festering sore or abscess, such as a snake bite might cause. Hence our modern word rankle, which originally mean to fester, putrefy or rot, or to inflict a festering wound, later to poison, embitter, or inflame, and then simply to annoy persistently, irritate, or rile, to feel hurt or bitter, or to cause such feelings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dracontion, <\/span>Arum dracunculus<\/span><\/i>, may have been confused with <\/span>Artemisia dracunculus<\/span><\/i>, a plant of the wormwood genus, commonly called tarragon, which <\/span>reportedly<\/span><\/a> has \u201canti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, and antihyperglycemic effects\u201d, although no clinical applications have emerged. Medieval terms for the plant included the Italian dragont\u00e9a, Spanish taragontia, and French serpentine. So there is a possible connection with dragons.<\/span><\/p>\n

To chase the dragon, place heroin on a piece of tinfoil, heat it, and inhale the fumes, which undulate on the foil like the tail of the mythical Chinese dragon. But <\/span>beware<\/span><\/a> spongiform leukoencephalopathy. Perhaps Harmonia\u2019s dragon-like necklace continues to exert its curse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeffrey Aronson<\/strong>\u00a0is a clinical pharmacologist, working in the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine in Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. He is also president emeritus of the British Pharmacological Society.<\/em><\/p>\n

Competing interests:<\/strong>\u00a0None declared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My last two pieces have dealt with dragons and rings, two topics that merge in legend. The word \u201cdragon\u201d comes from an IndoEuropean root DERK, to look at. From this […]<\/p>\n

More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5762],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jeff-aronsons-words"],"yoast_head":"\nJeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Dragons and rings - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Dragons and rings - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My last two pieces have dealt with dragons and rings, two topics that merge in legend. The word \u201cdragon\u201d comes from an IndoEuropean root DERK, to look at. From this [...]More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-15T14:01:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-22T12:08:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2017\/02\/Jeffrey-Aronson.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/15\\\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/15\\\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\"},\"headline\":\"Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Dragons and rings\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-15T14:01:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-22T12:08:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/15\\\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":843,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/15\\\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Jeffrey-Aronson.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Jeff Aronson's Words\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/15\\\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/15\\\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/15\\\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\\\/\",\"name\":\"Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Dragons and rings - The BMJ\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/15\\\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/15\\\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Jeffrey-Aronson.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-15T14:01:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-22T12:08:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/15\\\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/15\\\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/15\\\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Jeffrey-Aronson.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/Jeffrey-Aronson.jpg\",\"width\":540,\"height\":350},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/15\\\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Dragons and rings\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\",\"name\":\"The BMJ\",\"description\":\"Helping doctors make better decisions.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The BMJ\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg\",\"width\":852,\"height\":568,\"caption\":\"The BMJ\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/bmjdotcom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/bmj_latest\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\",\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"BMJ\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Dragons and rings - The BMJ","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Dragons and rings - The BMJ","og_description":"My last two pieces have dealt with dragons and rings, two topics that merge in legend. The word \u201cdragon\u201d comes from an IndoEuropean root DERK, to look at. From this [...]More...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/","og_site_name":"The BMJ","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/","article_published_time":"2019-02-15T14:01:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-02-22T12:08:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":540,"height":350,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2017\/02\/Jeffrey-Aronson.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"BMJ","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bmj_latest","twitter_site":"@bmj_latest","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"BMJ","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/"},"author":{"name":"BMJ","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/person\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe"},"headline":"Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Dragons and rings","datePublished":"2019-02-15T14:01:36+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-22T12:08:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/"},"wordCount":843,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2017\/02\/Jeffrey-Aronson.jpg","articleSection":["Jeff Aronson's Words"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/","name":"Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Dragons and rings - The BMJ","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2017\/02\/Jeffrey-Aronson.jpg","datePublished":"2019-02-15T14:01:36+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-22T12:08:13+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2017\/02\/Jeffrey-Aronson.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2017\/02\/Jeffrey-Aronson.jpg","width":540,"height":350},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2019\/02\/15\/jeffrey-aronson-dragons-and-rings\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Dragons and rings"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/","name":"The BMJ","description":"Helping doctors make better decisions.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization","name":"The BMJ","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/05\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/05\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg","width":852,"height":568,"caption":"The BMJ"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/","https:\/\/x.com\/bmj_latest"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/person\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe","name":"BMJ","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"BMJ"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}