English shifts up into this "academic register" for scientific or medical words, utilising Greek or Latin roots. Many other languages ... do not.

So learning that e.g. "gums" - (i.e. the part of the mouth around the teeth) is in Dutch "tandvlees" (and German "zahnfleisch") - i.e. "tooth-flesh" - has that humorous quality when the expected shift up does not materialise. I mean, does not happen.