lurgy

Definition

A fictitious, highly infectious disease; sometimes as a reference to flu-like symptoms.

Etymology

A nonsense word popularized by Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes, scriptwriters for a 9 November 1954 programme of The Goon Show, “Lurgi Strikes Britain”, about the outbreak of a highly dangerous, highly infectious and—as it turns out—highly fictitious disease known as “the Dreaded Lurgi”. Folk etymologies include: * a corruption and contraction of allergy. This is not supported by the use of the hard /ɡ/ in lurgi (rhyming with Fergie), as allergy has a soft 'g' /dʒ/. * based on the Northern English dialectal phrase fever-lurgy (“lazy or idle”).

Example Sentences

• "the dreaded lurgy"
• "He was helped, of course, by his presentational skills, still present here despite a sore throat and what seemed to be a spot of the perennial conference lurgy."
• "Blocked nose, watering eyes, a sore throat – the signs of a cold are all too familiar. Here are seven ways to dodge the lurgy, or shrug it off sooner[.]"

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