To the Editor.—
Like others before me (241:2141, 1979), I, too, commend David H. Spodick, MD, DSc (240:2439, 1978), on his witty essay "Vogue Words—Ectopic Language." I agree in principle, but not in theory, with the comments made by Sanford Pinna, MD (241:2141, 1979), renaming Dr Spodick's ventricular ectopic beat (VEB) a ventricular ectopic event (VEE). Precedence has already been established in calling this anomaly an ectopic ventricular excitation (EVE).1With only minimal criticism we accept the term "ectopic," and all of us support the adjective "ventricular" in denoting the site of the action. "Excitation" I defend as a better expression than "beat" or "event." "Beat" is an auscultatory finding, while "event" does not truly reflect the electropathology of the heart. Semantics aside, the value of employing the term EVE is that it is voiced as a short single word. Being monosyllabic, EVE takes less time to say than