There are no cooties in the UK, to my knowledge: there you get the
"(dreaded) lurgy" (hard g), an expression sometimes believed to have been
invented by Spike Milligan, who did popularize it via *The Goon Show* when I
was about 10 - I remember it well - but may have borrowed it from some
northern dialect term. It has nothing to do with sex - remember: sexual
intercourse began in 1963 etc.
mj
Creator - A comedian whose audience is afraid to laugh.
H.L.Mencken
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Weiss
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, May 08, 2009 6:11 PM
Subject: Re: question (UK)
A good one, worthy of Flatears. It means a muscle ache caused by
excess labor. The online etymological dictionary assumes it's named
for an unknown lame horse. I'm assuming that's not the whole story.
While hat's being pondered, how about cooties? Do British kids get
them? In US kid slang they're an imaginary affliction which renders
one distasteful in obscure ways. How it got from the actual bug is
the question.
Mark
At 11:31 AM 5/8/2009, you wrote:
>Mark Weiss wrote:
>>
>>
>>Anybody got any ideas for the origin of "charley horse"?
>Cocaine-smugglers' drug mule
|