# Non English-Speaking Dopers: Does Your Language Have An Equivalent To "Cooties"?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [January 6, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134 "2015-01-06T16:50:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/1 "2015-01-06T16:50:48Z")
“Cooties” = the imaginary disease that (pre-pubescent) girls have, making boys hesitant to touch them (or vice-versa).
How does your language treat this phenomenon?
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/2 "2015-01-06T16:59:36Z")
In the Malay language: _kutu_. Which is literally the Malay word for lice and the origin of the loanword _cootie_ in English. As for the metaphorical meaning enforced by cruel children… the closest corresponding practices would be the purity/impurity laws in various religions and customs. Particularly the caste system, which is the cooties system writ large. By adults who ought to know better.
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/3 "2015-01-06T17:52:38Z")
I’m struggling to think how British English deals with it!
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2015, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/4 "2015-01-07T06:34:34Z")
Neither my Spanish nor my Catalan dialects have direct translations (doesn’t mean there aren’t others that do), but of course we do have ways of dealing with the concept of “X are yucky!”:
Person complaining about having to deal with undesirable: B-b-b-but she’s a _girl_! or But he’s a BOY! (said in an extremely whiny voice and/or stomping one’s foot)
Authority responding: :rolleyes: (S)He doesn’t have lice, now go out and play!
_Piojoso/pullòs_ are insults in both languages but have different meanings. Both literally mean “someone who has lice”; _piojoso_ (Spanish) refers to someone who’s dirty and uncouth but _pullòs_ (Catalan) is someone who combines being a nitpicker with not knowing when to let go of an issue - a Doper with a bad hair day. The Spanish for this second one is _picajoso_ (derived from _picar ajos_, “to chop up garlic”, an activity which requires paying close attention to your fingertips and which leaves you smelling strongly).
For activities viewed as having cooties, the response from authority might be “it won’t make your hands fall off”. Unmanly, “it won’t make your dick fall off”. Unwomanly, “you won’t lose your tits for doing that”. Apparently the only activities which are reasonably classified as undesirable are those presenting an actual risk of amputation.
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### Author:  [@VanillaGorilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VanillaGorilla)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2015, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/5 "2015-01-07T08:21:00Z")
In Swedish we have the words _tjejbaciller_ and _killbaciller_, meaning girl germs and boy germs, respectively.
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### Author:  [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2015, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/6 "2015-01-07T09:08:01Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> I’m struggling to think how British English deals with it!
The “lurgy”
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2015, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/7 "2015-01-07T09:37:09Z")
‘Girl germs’
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### Author:  [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2015, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/8 "2015-01-07T10:35:16Z")
Dutch - can’t think of anything.
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### Author:  [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2015, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/9 "2015-01-07T11:06:10Z")
The literal meaning sure, but nothing in Japanese that corresponds with the idiomatic meaning.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2015, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/10 "2015-01-07T11:27:59Z")
Nothing like it in Afrikaans that I know of.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2015, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/11 "2015-01-07T12:22:33Z")
> [@Johanna](#):
>
> In the Malay language: _kutu_. Which is literally the Malay word for lice and the origin of the loanword _cootie_ in English. As for the metaphorical meaning enforced by cruel children… the closest corresponding practices would be the purity/impurity laws in various religions and customs. Particularly the caste system, which is the cooties system writ large. By adults who ought to know better.
I love the 'Dope! Thanks, **Johanna**.
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### Author:  [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2015, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/12 "2015-01-07T19:52:38Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> I’m struggling to think how British English deals with it!
The Lurgy
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### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/13 "2015-01-07T20:52:31Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> _Piojoso/pullòs_ are insults in both languages but have different meanings. Both literally mean “someone who has lice”; _piojoso_ (Spanish) refers to someone who’s dirty and uncouth but _pullòs_ (Catalan) is someone who combines being a \*\*nitpicker \*\*with not knowing when to let go of an issue…
I don’t know if you did it intentionally, but since nits are lice larvae, “nitpicking” is literally lice removal. [/pedant]
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### Author:  [@Arch\_Trout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arch_Trout)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/14 "2015-01-07T21:55:38Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> I’m struggling to think how British English deals with it!
I see a couple of posters think The Lurgy suffices.
I’m not sure it does and I’m with you **Baron Greenback** , I can’t think of a proper synonym.
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### Author:  [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/15 "2015-01-07T23:19:35Z")
The dreaded lurgy would probably be the nearest thing, but it’s a condition that can afflict members of both sexes.
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### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/16 "2015-01-07T23:48:52Z")
I’d never heard of the dreaded lurgy, but just googled the definition.
Yeah, doesn’t sound like a good fit. Lurgy sounds like an actual physical ailment, whereas cooties is an imaginary condition caused by being in proximity to the opposite sex.
Lurgy sounds closer to “Crawling Crud” or “Phillipine Fallapart”. Or Rockin’ Pneumonia & Boogie-Woogie Flu.
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### Author:  [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/17 "2015-01-10T00:17:31Z")
> [@jsc1953](#):
>
> I’d never heard of the dreaded lurgy, but just googled the definition.
>
> Yeah, doesn’t sound like a good fit. Lurgy sounds like an actual physical ailment, whereas cooties is an imaginary condition caused by being in proximity to the opposite sex.
>
> Lurgy sounds closer to “Crawling Crud” or “Phillipine Fallapart”. Or Rockin’ Pneumonia & Boogie-Woogie Flu.
Yeah, The Dreaded Lurgy is not the same. As a kid we just declared that ‘girls smell’.
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/18 "2015-01-10T00:45:02Z")
> [@Arch\_Trout](#):
>
> I see a couple of posters think The Lurgy suffices.
> I’m not sure it does and I’m with you **Baron Greenback** , I can’t think of a proper synonym.
Certainly, “the lurgy” wasn’t used that way when I was a kid. If it was used at all, it was for an unspecified, likely imaginary, illness. It certainly wasn’t a feature of the endless primary school games of “Kiss, cuddle or torture”\*
- Boys vs girls, a chase game, a game of tig. If you got caught you had to select your punishment - the “torture” was either a swipe at your upper arm or the dreaded “kiss _and_ cuddle” combo.
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### Author:  [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/19 "2015-01-10T01:22:54Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> Neither my Spanish nor my Catalan dialects have direct translations (doesn’t mean there aren’t others that do), but of course we do have ways of dealing with the concept of “X are yucky!”:
>
> Person complaining about having to deal with undesirable: B-b-b-but she’s a _girl_! or But he’s a BOY! (said in an extremely whiny voice and/or stomping one’s foot)
> Authority responding: :rolleyes: (S)He doesn’t have lice, now go out and play!
>
> _Piojoso/pullòs_ are insults in both languages but have different meanings. Both literally mean “someone who has lice”; _piojoso_ (Spanish) refers to someone who’s dirty and uncouth but _pullòs_ (Catalan) is someone who combines being a nitpicker with not knowing when to let go of an issue - a Doper with a bad hair day. The Spanish for this second one is _picajoso_ (derived from _picar ajos_, “to chop up garlic”, an activity which requires paying close attention to your fingertips and which leaves you smelling strongly).
>
> For activities viewed as having cooties, the response from authority might be “it won’t make your hands fall off”. Unmanly, “it won’t make your dick fall off”. Unwomanly, “you won’t lose your tits for doing that”. Apparently the only activities which are reasonably classified as undesirable are those presenting an actual risk of amputation.
There isn’t a synomyn in any Latin American Spanish dialect that I’m aware of either.
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [January 10, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-speaking-dopers-does-your-language-have-an-equivalent-to-cooties/709134/20 "2015-01-10T02:26:10Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> “Cooties” = the imaginary disease that (pre-pubescent) girls have, making boys hesitant to touch them (or vice-versa).
>
> How does your language treat this phenomenon?
Cooties aren’t imaginary, even if the kids don’t know what it really means or use it correctly. Someone with cooties simply is the same thing as someone with lice.
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