imaginary lat syndrome
- noun
- /ɪˈmædʒɪˌnɛri læt ˈsɪnˌdroʊm/
- Slang
:
síndrome de lat imaginario
- Many gym-goers joke about having imaginary lat syndrome after lifting weights.
Examples
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After completing a single set of pull-ups, he claimed he had imaginary lat syndrome.
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After my workout, I felt like I had imaginary lat syndrome.
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She laughed about her imaginary lat syndrome after just looking at the weights.
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Whenever someone skips arm day, they blame imaginary lat syndrome.
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After completing a rigorous workout, he joked about suffering from imaginary lat syndrome because he didn't feel any real soreness.
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She often teases her friends about having imaginary lat syndrome after they complain about their workout fatigue without any real injury.
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Many fitness enthusiasts refer to their imaginary lat syndrome when they feel tired but know they haven't pushed themselves hard enough.
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derivable from the constituents: 'imaginary' (not real) + 'lat' (the back muscle) + 'syndrome' (a set of symptoms) yields a humorous label for perceived but not actual lat symptoms. Although coinage and humorous, it follows a productive English pattern ('imaginary X syndrome') so a B1 learner who knows the parts would readily infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Imaginary lat syndrome comes from a gym joke: the lat is a big back muscle people call 'lats', and 'imaginary' paints the picture of soreness you feel but did not really earn. So, it means 'a feeling of muscle pain or tiredness that is not real', often used as a playful excuse after little or no exercise.