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Today I encountered a saying where I think the last part has been replaced with a euphemism.

I am glossing over a significant amount of spherical myalgia.

I could make out the meaning from the context. The meaning is "I am skipping a lot of gritty detail".

What is the original saying (if there is one)?

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    Myalgia = muscle pain. These things don't have a shape.
    – John Dvorak
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 15:48
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    Could "spherical myalgia" mean headache? Heads are round (sort of)
    – Klas Lindbäck
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 15:54
  • Oh, that muscle. Interesting idea...
    – John Dvorak
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 15:56
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    @CopperKettle True, but that would shift the meaning from necessary pain to unnecessary pain. But it's a good one!
    – Klas Lindbäck
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 16:03
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    Google Books contains not a single instance of the collocation "spherical myalgia". Perhaps the author is one of those (relatively rare) people who uses ballsache (pain in the testicles) to mean hassle. I don't know what reason to cite, but I don't think this question is a good fit to a learners website. It's effectively not even "English".
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 17:34

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It's just my humorous way of describing ball ache. Spherical=ball shaped, myalgia=medical term for pain/ache.

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I'm a doctor so I can think of this usage. And trust me, we as students used to use a lot of such phrases just to have fun using medical jargon! This included, that is beyond your gray matter- beyond your thinking, paralyzed orbicularis oris -someone who never smiles! and a lot more. Ah, I just had nostalgia!

Okay, to begin with...

myalgia is pain in one or more muscle but here, in this context the pain is important and not the muscle because it's about the author's brain. The human brain is not required to 'move' and thus, our brain does not contain any muscle.

Now back to the sarcastic comment in which the author has played a pun. As you said that the intention is to 'I am skipping a lot of gritty detail' which means you don't want to bother your brain much about it though you know the truth.

The word spherical is used for the brain. We doctors use spheres to refer to the human brain.

So, to rephrase and reverse a 'pun' played on it, the sentence means though the things are right, the author simply wants to save his/er brain from pain (or bothering).

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