lurgy

== English == === Etymology === The noun is derived from fever-lurgy, possibly influenced by or related to lurk (“to hang out or wait”). Fever-lurgy is possibly a variant of fever lurden (“idleness regarded as a medical condition”), from fever + lurden, lurdane (“used as a general term of abuse for a person, especially one regarded as dull or idle: loafer, sluggard”). Lurden, lurdane is derived from Middle English lurdan (“coward; good-for-nothing person, fool, rascal; lazy person; low-born or ill-mannered person; unfortunate person; wicked person”), from Old French lordin, lourdin, from lourd, lourt, lorz (“clumsy, oafish; heavy”) (modern French lourd) + -in (suffix forming derogatory or diminutive nouns); and lourd from Late Latin lordus, lurdus (“clumsy; heavy slow; stupid”), probably from Latin lūridus (“sallow, wan; ghastly, horrifying”), possibly from lūror (“lividness; paleness, pallor”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₃y- (“bluish”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives). Noun sense 1.2 (“non-specific disease”) was popularized by the British radio comedy show The Goon Show (first broadcast 1951–1960), especially the episode “Lurgi Strikes Britain” (series 5, episode 7; 9 November 1954) written by the Anglo-Irish comedian Spike Milligan (1918–2002) and the English comedian Eric Sykes (1923–2012), about the outbreak of a highly dangerous and infectious and—as it turns out—fictitious disease known as “the Dreaded Lurgi” created as a scam. Another suggestion is that the word is a corruption and contraction of allergy, but this is a folk etymology as allergy has a soft g (/dʒ/) while lurgy has a hard /ɡ/ (rhyming with Fergie). The adjective is probably from an attributive use of the noun. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) enPR: lûʹgē, IPA(key): /ˈlɜːɡi/ (General American) enPR: lûrʹge, IPA(key): /ˈlɜɹɡi/ Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ɡi Hyphenation: lur‧gy === Noun === lurgy (countable and uncountable, plural lurgies) (humorous, slang) Chiefly preceded by the. (chiefly England (Cornwall, Northern England), Ireland, archaic) Idleness or laziness regarded as a medical condition; also, depression, especially resulting from a hangover. [from late 18th c.] Synonyms: (obsolete) fever lurden, fever-lurgy, (obsolete) lurgy-fever (possibly by extension, originally UK military slang, now chiefly Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK) A non-specific (often infectious) disease, especially one with symptoms similar to those of a cold or flu, which renders one unfit to attend social events, go to work, etc. [from mid 20th c.] the dreaded lurgy ==== Usage notes ==== Phrases like “I’ve got the lurgy” are commonly heard when somebody is explaining why they cannot attend a social occasion, come to work, etc. The term is also used in the context of playground games. For example, “You can’t play with us; you’ve got the lurgy!” could be used when excluding another child from a group. ==== Alternative forms ==== lurgee, lurgey, lurgi ==== Translations ==== ==== See also ==== cootie ligma === Adjective === lurgy (chiefly England (Cornwall, Northern England), obsolete) Idle, lazy. === References === === Further reading === dreaded lurgy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia lurgy (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia Joseph Wright, editor (1902), “LURGY, adj. and sb.”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume III (H–L), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 695, column 1. “lurgi n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present. === Anagrams === gurly