# What was the grip? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2010, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243 "2010-02-24T06:40:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/1 "2010-02-24T06:40:47Z")
Mrs. Geek came across this in her genealogy research. It was in a newspaper article in the early 1900s (1910, I think) and the article said something like Mrs. such and such had been confined to her house for a week by an attack of the grip. I know “consumption” was tuberculosis, but what was the “grip”? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/2 "2010-02-24T06:47:52Z")
I think it is the grippe from the French and IIRC it was a form of the flu ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/3 "2010-02-24T06:54:11Z")
Usually spelled gripe, not flu but tummy ache. Here’s OED: > [@](#): > > gripe, n.1 > > b. An intermittent spasmodic pain in the bowels. Usually pl., colic pains. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/4 "2010-02-24T07:01:45Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Usually spelled gripe, not flu but tummy ache. Confined to the house for one week for a tummy ache? I think it’s far more likely to be [grippe](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/grippe): > [@](#): > > grippe >    /grɪp/ Show Spelled[grip] Show IPA > –nounPathology. (formerly) > influenza. ---
**Author:** ![Tarwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de0a6/32.png) [@Tarwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarwater)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/5 "2010-02-24T07:02:52Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Usually spelled gripe, not flu but tummy ache. > > Here’s OED: Called so because bowel pain is a symptom of stomach flu, I think. In Germany, the flu is still referred to as “Die Grippe.” ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/6 "2010-02-24T09:49:42Z")
Aside from the _Grip_ there is also the _Pip_. No joke. Technically it’s a disease specific to poultry but also used as a non specific ailment in humans. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/7 "2010-02-24T11:41:53Z")
Cultural reference from _Guys and Dolls_: > [@](#): > > A person can develop la grippe, > La grippe. > La post nasal drip. > With the wheezes > And the sneezes > And a sinus that’s really a pip! ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/8 "2010-02-24T14:42:36Z")
When I was growing up in Massachusetts in the 40s and 50s the term “grippe” was still common for a flu-like illness. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/9 "2010-02-24T15:40:57Z")
> [@Tarwater](#): > > Called so because bowel pain is a symptom of stomach flu, I think. In Germany, the flu is still referred to as “Die Grippe.” “Flu” is influenza, which has nothing to do with the stomach. Referring to an intestinal virus as flu is incorrect, though I suppose it’s somewhat popular. ---
**Author:** ![Marienee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Marienee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marienee)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/10 "2010-02-24T16:00:41Z")
[Here](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E00E0D71739E233A25751C0A9679C946796D6CF) is a 1916 NYT article which seems to be referring to the flu. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/11 "2010-02-24T16:38:26Z")
> [@Marienee](#): > > [Here](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E00E0D71739E233A25751C0A9679C946796D6CF) is a 1916 NYT article which seems to be referring to the flu. Interesting - that refers to a “pandemic” flu affecting the Eastern United States just two years ahead of a much larger pandemic - first observed in the United States at Fort Riley and in Queens and then affecting the whole country, and indeed most of the world. Different flus, I’m sure. I just find it interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Marienee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Marienee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marienee)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/12 "2010-02-24T17:18:03Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Interesting - that refers to a “pandemic” flu affecting the Eastern United States just two years ahead of a much larger pandemic - first observed in the United States at Fort Riley and in Queens and then affecting the whole country, and indeed most of the world. > > Different flus, I’m sure. I just find it interesting. That occurred to me too, only not until after I posted. ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/13 "2010-02-24T18:03:41Z")
Safe to assume this is related to where they got the term “gripe water” from? BTW, that stuff worked wonders on our colicky baby! ---
**Author:** ![flano1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f14d63/32.png) [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/14 "2010-02-24T19:05:09Z")
good point. i always assumed it was because it stopped the kid from whinging and moaning! have the do-gooders and nanny pc’ers changed the formula these days? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-grip/530243/15 "2010-02-25T03:03:31Z")
Thanks to all for the replies. It was spelled “grip” in the article, but grippe (aka flu) seems to fit.