Week of 2 Nov 2026 · German
Muskelkater
MOOS-kel-kah-ter · literally “muscle tomcat”
The stiff, sore muscles that turn up a day or two after exercise. Doctors call it delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
Origin. One popular theory: 1800s doctors called it a kind of muscle ‘catarrh’ (Katarrh), which slid into Kater, ‘tomcat’. Kater on its own also means a hangover in German. So the cat is either in your legs or in your head.
Use it: Leg day was Monday. The Muskelkater arrived Wednesday, uninvited, and is now living in my stairs.
History question
Which 1840s London surgeon, timed by onlookers with pocket watches, supposedly did an amputation with a 300% death rate?
Robert Liston could take a leg off in under three minutes. Legend says he also took his assistant’s fingers and a spectator died of fright: three deaths, one operation. The story comes from a 1980s book and is probably exaggerated. The speed was real, and in 1846 he did one of Europe’s first operations under ether.