Humorous disease names

[Charles Doyle]

When I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, my mother would humorously designate any unpleasant and undiagnosed illness as a case of "the epizootics," pronouncing "epizootics" with 4 syllables ("-zoo-" as [zu]). Of course, there actually exists a word "epizootic," the standard pronunciation having 5 syllables. I assume the mispronunciation and misapplication of the term was intentional on my mother's part--or on the part of the person (or group) from whom (or which) she learned it.

--Charlie
_____________________________________________________________

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org