The “skeleton” is a humorous name scientists attach to the inner structure of the body, which no one has ever seen. At science parties, it is customary to speculate wildly–much as people muse on the lives of celebrities–about other comical nomenclature for this imaginary framework. One popular motif is “bones,” a general term which refers jokingly to a fictional set of rods, gears, and pulleys beneath the skin.
