When a patient comes in with joint pain, after an initial examination, we tell him that it may be “ankylosing spondylitis” or “osteoarthritis” and so on. So, often someone will ask, “So I don’t have rheumatism?” We tell him, “It’s a rheumatic disease,” and he asks, “Oh, it looks like you have to use penicillin!” And, “Can I still blow and go in the water?” We had to tell him very carefully, “Rheumatism is a collective term for a group of diseases. If it is rheumatic fever, you may need penicillin, but most other rheumatic diseases do not require antibiotics. It is related to other factors of immunity”, “damage to joints and muscles caused by wind, cold and humidity can be called one of the rheumatic diseases, but it is only one of the milder diseases”. For specialists, the reasoning is simple enough, but patients, and even many medical professionals, are always confused about these two concepts. We often go to great lengths to explain, but the patient is still confused. I really don’t know why “rheumatic disease” was translated as “rheumatic disease” in the first place.