# List off your favorite old-timey disease names! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 9, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010 "2003-12-09T20:57:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nvme77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Nvme77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nvme77)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/41 "2003-12-10T06:09:46Z")
My son had croup in October. It was neato. St Vitus Dance- hey that sounds fun! Is it like Twister? ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/42 "2003-12-10T06:29:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by quiltguy154 \* > \*\*Don’t forget _quinsy_ and it’s-gotta’- be-bad-cause-it-sounds-bad _scrofula_. \*\* Also known as “the king’s evil” because the monarch was supposed to have the ability to cure it by means of a laying on of hands. (Cf. **Earthling** ’s post – apparently Charles II wasn’t picking up the slack. ;)) Syphilis actually takes its name from a sixteenth-century poem called _Syphilis, sive Morbus Gallicus_ (“Syphilis, or the French Disease”) – it was, colloquially, called the pox. Epilepsy was the falling-sickness, and – well, I can’t make out half of this rather impressive tirade from Shakespeare’s _Troilus and Cressida_ because I don’t have a decent annotated edition handy: > [@](#): > > Now, the rotten diseases of the south, the guts-griping, ruptures, catarrhs, loads o’ gravel i’ the back, lethargies, cold palsies, raw eyes, dirt-rotten livers, wheezing lungs, bladders full of imposthume, sciaticas, limekilns i’ the palm, incurable bone ache, and the rivelled fee-simple of the tetter, take and take again such preposterous discoveries! ---
**Author:** ![Macrophage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/87869e/32.png) [@Macrophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macrophage)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/43 "2003-12-10T06:36:03Z")
> [@](#): > > [nitpick] Graves’ disease, named after Irish physician R. J. Graves [nitpick] Grave’s disease, hyperthyroidism with diffuse goiter, ophthalmopathy and dermopathy from thyroid stimulating Ig. [/nitpick]. Also, the spanish equivalent of “the grippe” is still used for influenza here. ---
**Author:** ![benson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@benson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/benson)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/44 "2003-12-10T06:47:37Z")
Dengue fever, otherwise known as Break Bone Fever. A friend of mine had it and said that the name is quite accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/45 "2003-12-10T07:38:23Z")
Lupus. I knew someone who had this but she didn’t know what caused it and I believe she said her doctors didn’t know how to treat it. ---
**Author:** ![Macrophage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/87869e/32.png) [@Macrophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macrophage)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/46 "2003-12-10T07:42:46Z")
It’s an autoinmune disease. ---
**Author:** ![PalJuicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a8b319/32.png) [@PalJuicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PalJuicy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/47 "2003-12-10T11:25:29Z")
Kuru is kinda cool. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/48 "2003-12-10T13:08:59Z")
Kuru is pretty much my all time favorite exotic disease. I’ve always thought that **vapors** wasn’t so much a medical condition but meant someone prone to a nervous disposition or panic attacks. Hey, c’mon, I’ve read a couple thousand romance novels…this is a common ailment in all the rich busy-bodied noble families. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/49 "2003-12-10T13:13:32Z")
Mumps. Do kids still get mumps? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/50 "2003-12-10T13:28:23Z")
> [@](#): > > **Shirley** : I’ve always thought that vapors wasn’t so much a medical condition but meant someone prone to a nervous disposition or panic attacks. Hey, c’mon, I’ve read a couple thousand romance novels…this is a common ailment in all the rich busy-bodied noble families. Yes and no. According to _Webster’s_, it did refer to hysteria or depression. But those _are_ medical conditions. Let’s see. My dad had typhoid fever; mother had malaria. My sister had scarlet fever and I had impetago and whooping cough. Yellow fever, anyone? Bubonic plague? I feel a swoon coming on. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/51 "2003-12-10T13:34:47Z")
Consumption is what you die of when you are captured by cannibals. (bad-a-boom) Consumption was once a “fashionable” disease, as it was believed that artists and other sensitive types were particularly prone to it. There were perfectly healthy people who cultivated a “consumptive” style. Pretty bizzare. During the '60s, hippies abandoned much of their parents teachings and advice. In some cases this was a good thing. In some cases, this was not. One of the things abandoned (at least by some) was the importance of cleanliness…so doctors started seeing diseases that hadn’t been seen for so long that they didn’t have proper scientific names…things like the “rot” and the “crud”… ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/52 "2003-12-10T13:45:47Z")
Take a look at old death certificates and you’ll see a whole range of “old timey” diseases named. A surprising number of people appeared to have died from “indigestion.” What they probably really died from was a heart attack. Like someone earlier mentioned, I always thought “St. Vitus’ Dance” sounded like a pretty happening disease to come down with. You could also get “milk fever,” or at least you could when my grandfather had it. And as an interesting aside, George Washington died of “quinsy.” Known today as acute laryngitis (sp?). ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/53 "2003-12-10T14:50:08Z")
Here’s what I like to do to make anything sound old-timey: I add the word “the” at the beginning. My husband, a social worker, says he was ready to kill me when discussing a client in a case meeting and he accidentally mentioned that the child’s grandmother had “the” alzheimers. ---
**Author:** ![Elle\_Toupee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Elle\_Toupee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elle_Toupee)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/54 "2003-12-10T15:11:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Macrophage \* > \*\*My all time favorite: > pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. \*\* Ah, yes. Good old Miner’s Lung. Ya can’t beat the classics. …although, and I know it’s not exactly an olde-tyme disease, I’ve always favoured the honta virus for sheer ‘Holy COW that’s disgusting!’ appeal. L. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/55 "2003-12-10T15:48:05Z")
What… there’s no such thing as Hanta? ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/56 "2003-12-10T16:17:37Z")
Oh, please. My ex-boyfriend _HAD_ Hanta. Just ask him. He’ll tell you. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/57 "2003-12-10T16:20:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Ah, yes. Good old Miner’s Lung. Ya can’t beat the classics. Oh, that reminded me of another one! I was in a productionof “Barnum” in high school and we had professional clowns come in and teach us how to do the make-up. After the greasepaint is applied clowns powder their faces with talcum or rice powder. The clowns told us to hold our breath as we powdered, because there are many clowns in old clowns homes with “clown lung,” or “white lung,” from inhaling the face powder. Like black lung, only for clowns. [One from the vaults](http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mcmarbles/detail?.dir=/Archival&.dnm=Bozo.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/58 "2003-12-10T16:24:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan \* > **scorbutus** “Scorbutus” is another name for scurvy. It’s the “cause of death” listed on my great-great-grandfather’s death record from Andersonville prison camp during the Civil War. Another great-great-grandfather got consumption as a prisoner-of-war in another camp, but survived. My own favorite disease is elephantiasis. ---
**Author:** ![GaterMouth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f1d935/32.png) [@GaterMouth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaterMouth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/59 "2003-12-10T16:36:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*What… there’s no such thing as Hanta? \*\* [**Hantaviruses**](http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hanta/hps/noframes/generalinfoindex.htm) Could this be what she was talking about? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010/60 "2003-12-10T17:14:48Z")
The ague (a bad cold with fever) Consumption usually means tuberculosis. Epizootic means, I think, “there’s a lot of that going around.” Dropsy, if I recall correctly, is edema, a lymphatic swelling of a limb. Shingles and scabies are skin conditions. There’s an old joke where a john explains to a hooker, as he undresses, that he had, as a child, “toe-lio,” “knee-sles,” and “smallcox.” Scabiosa is a flower, not a disease. Union Scale also sounds like a disease, but it’s a wage rate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-off-your-favorite-old-timey-disease-names/218010.md?page=4)