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.”
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.
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.
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.
Fair enough.
“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.
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.
Germs…and I threaten to share them with people if they get too close…
: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!