The Elfin Blog

Last week, in yet another stunningly embarrassing teaching faux pas, I was explaining to my students that King George III, who was the king of Great Britain during the American revolutionary period, was hindered by a disease that, over time, caused him to go slowly insane. I explained that this disease was inherited and was found almost exclusively in the royal family. Other symptoms included, I told my students, paralysis and blue urine. 8th graders love to hear about rare diseases, but despite my knowledge of the disease I couldn’t think of the name of the disease.

“Guys,” I told my students, “I just can’t seem to remember the name of it. I’ll have to look it up for you. I want to say it’s a “P” word.” I paused and thought quietly for a moment. “I want to say it’s priapism, but that doesn’t seem right.” I left it at that and then went on. None of my students seemed to care, except one, who looked at me with an odd, inquisitive look.

When I got home from work that evening, I suddenly remembered that priapism is a condition that causes a persistent and painful erection! King George may have had many problems, but priapism most likely wasn’t one of them. No wonder that one student seemed confused.

It turns out that King George probably suffered from porphyria. A “P” word to be sure, but with a very different meaning. I only hope that if this comes up again, none of my students remember my initial ramblings about priapism.