Sorry (Lurgy)
Posted by Masakim on October 17, 2001
In Reply to: Lurgy posted by masakim on October 17, 2001
Sorry for my omitting the source.
Jonathon Green, Cassell's Dictionary of Slang
: : : I'm hoping a Scotsman/woman can help me out here. Colleagues in my office refuse to think that lurgy/lergy/or similar such spellings is a term for the sniffles or colds. Anyone agree or have the etymology of the term?
: : : Thanks!
: : The 'dreaded lurgy' is a well know expression in the UK for any form of mild illness. I guess it's a shortening of the 'dreaded allergy'.
: lurgi/lurgy n. [1950s+] any unspecified but deleterious disease
or ailment; esp. as the minatory phr. _dreaded lurgi_. [apparently
coined by the writers of _The Goon Show_ (1953-60), but the _EED_
cites _lurgy_, idleness, loafing + _lurgy-fever_, the 'disease'
of idleness. The _OED_ adds the synon. _fever-lurden_, _fever-lurgan_,
ult. SE _fever_ + _lurdan_, 'a general term of opprobrium, reproach,
or abuse, implying either dullness and incapacity, or idleness and
rascality; a sluggard, vagabond, "loafer"']
From Cassell's Dictionary of Slang by Jonathon Green.
: I was beginning to feel weak and knew that I had caught the dreaded swamp lurgy. (Hamish MacInnes, 1974)
- Brilliant and Quick Response! M.Dobson 10/18/01