Merriam says it’s pronounced: \ˈā-(ˌ)gyü\
It would be cooler if it was “ah-gway”, though.
When I was a kid, they told us not to sit on cold concrete or we’d get piles from it.
I got a rash on my butt.
I thought only governesses got chilblains.
Exactly.
I’m not a governess, and I have a couple of chillblains. I also have dropsy.
Don’t I know it.
I had an encounter with gout in June. I was told I had to give up beer, but in fact my intake increased slightly just to give my toe the finger. Woke up this am in agony. Occurrence number two. On the bright side; if I can drink lots of beer and consume whatever I like and still only get two episodes a year, I’m happy.
I thought ague was malaria.
For me, it’s the “Peruvian Hamsterpox”.
I had pleurisy a couple years ago and mine wasn’t that bad. I did have the same reaction as the OP did to having chilblains upon diagnosis.
For me it’s “Ebola”. I especially like it when I come down with the 24-hour Ebola.
No one gets the once-popular brain fever anymore. It stalked Sherlock Holmes’ London.
My go-to disease is the Creeping Crud. 
Cured by inventing ice cream. Though if you overdo it you go beyond counteracting brain fever and instead contract brain freeze.
When I was a kid I remember my mother saying stuff like “bundle up or you’ll get chillblains” but we never knew what chillblains were. I’ve probably had these and never knew it.
Funny, I always thought these old timey conditions were ultimately caused by kids on your lawn.
So what is piles? Hemmeroids?
Yep. Hemorrhoids.
My two year old had croup a couple of times. It was scary as hell. Hearing him bark like a seal at 2:00 AM was not an experience I want to repeat anytime soon.
When I was a kid, and I would be especially clumsy and drop a few things in a short timespan, my mother would tell me I must have dropsy. I knew she was joking but didn’t know what dropsy really was until many years later.
No,it isn’t. Ague refers to violent shivering, which can be a symptom of influenza, but can also be a symptom of many other illnesses including especially malaria.
Indeed, when I researched those names I discovered that most of those “diseases” are what we now call symptoms, albeit symptoms widely associated with certain diseases:
[ul]
[li]AGUE Used to define the recurring fever & chills of malarial infection[/li][li]CHILBLAIN Swelling of extremities caused by exposure to cold[/li][li]COLIC An abdominal pain and cramping[/li][li]CROUP Laryngitis, diphtheria, or strep throat[/li][li]DROPSY Edema (swelling), often caused by kidney or heart disease[/li][li]FLUX An excessive flow or discharge of fluid like hemorrhage or diarrhea[/li][li]GRIPPE Influenza like symptoms[/li][li]LUMBAGO Back pain[/li][li]PLEURISY Any pain in the chest area with each breath[/li][/ul]
The servants in Victorian novels always got chilblains, especially the milkmaids who had to suffer cold hands while making butter and cheese. The cure? A pot of goose grease. (To rub on, not eat.) The lady of the house often suffered from The Vapors. The cure? Smelling salts and loosening the stays of her corset.