# What do you call your sicknesses? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 8, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-sicknesses/605527 "2011-12-08T17:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-sicknesses/605527/41 "2011-12-10T22:39:03Z")
If I’ve got a throwing-up type thing I will refer to it as a “stomach bug” or sometimes a “stomach flu” but never “the flu” and definitely never “influenza.” ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-sicknesses/605527/42 "2011-12-10T23:31:45Z")
> [@Gleena](#): > > Meh. Almost without exception people I know in Sydney and Melbourne (which I have extended to the rest of Australia, sorry) call a cold the flu, which is a pet peeve of mine so I notice it. And it’s a pet peeve of mine when someone in the Eastern States goes “In Australia they/we do x” like Australia’s one singular cultural monolith without linguistic and societal differences not just between states but within suburbs of the same city, so I notice it. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-sicknesses/605527/43 "2011-12-11T05:53:31Z")
> [@Gleena](#): > > When I find one of these lovely pockets of people who do not call it the flu, I will consider moving there so I can live in sunshine and happiness, despite having a cold. There is no word for “flu” in the indigenous language of Warlpiri - “nyuulyjini” means both to sniff, and to sneeze. So if you want to consider moving to the Northern Territory, there’ll be sunshine and happiness and a lovely pocket of about 3000 people with whom you will never be peeved. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-sicknesses/605527/44 "2011-12-11T05:58:56Z")
I’ve never had the flu and I seldom get colds but when I do I like to refer to them as coryza. Sounds more impressive, I think, without actually telling a lie. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-sicknesses/605527/45 "2011-12-11T08:03:02Z")
> [@Sierra\_Indigo](#): > > And it’s a pet peeve of mine when someone in the Eastern States goes “In Australia they/we do x” like Australia’s one singular cultural monolith without linguistic and societal differences not just between states but within suburbs of the same city, so I notice it. Fair enough. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-sicknesses/605527/46 "2011-12-11T19:59:49Z")
“Probably bitten by a spider” Far more interesting. I do sometimes get some sort of puffy eye, sneezing thing. My childhood doctor told me let’s not call it an allergy, that’ll only make it worse. **The wind of my soul** sorry to hear that. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-sicknesses/605527/47 "2011-12-12T05:50:42Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > Similar question so I hope I’m not violating protocol by putting it here: > > What do you call that irritating really slow, low volume nasal drip that makes you have to blow your nose every few minutes but get almost NOTHING out. It’s just a constant tickle that you know will drip out of your nose if you don’t wipe/blow it, but it gets no worse than that? Is that just a reaction to the colder weather? A low level cold? WTF is it? (I’ve had it for weeks now!!!) Winter is what I call it. Dry and cold. My nose doesn’t like it. The rest of me does and I’m not moving so I end up going through a lot of tissues. I have a slightly runny nose all the time up here but in winter it ramps up noticeably. I’ve had a bout or two of “you don’t want to know” as in that’s what I left in my boss’ voicemail explaining why I wasn’t coming in. We’re all about the TMI but nobody really wants to hear too much detail about diarrhea or those horrid cramps or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![missinformation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@missinformation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missinformation)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-sicknesses/605527/48 "2011-12-13T03:00:57Z")
Germs…and I threaten to share them with people if they get too close… ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-sicknesses/605527/49 "2011-12-14T04:49:55Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > Winter is what I call it. Dry and cold. My nose doesn’t like it. The rest of me does and I’m not moving so I end up going through a lot of tissues. I have a slightly runny nose all the time up here but in winter it ramps up noticeably. :mad: That wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear! I wanted to know that it was such and such preventable/curable thing and I only needed to take inexpensive OTC drug X and it would go away! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-sicknesses/605527.md?page=2)