Wikipedia tells me that rotovirus and its kin are often referred to as "stomach flu"

[conuly]

This gives me flashbacks to 12th grade health class (first time around). I told you about that, I really disliked the teacher? This had a bit of a magnifying effect - the less I liked him, the more irritating I found him, and the more he irritated me, the less I liked him.

The guy used to harp on a few favorite subjects, and one of those was the phrase "stomach flu". As he put it, the flu is a respiratory illness, and there's no such thing as stomach flu.

But here's what I'm thinking. If I'm sick, and I say I have the stomach flu, and you know what I mean, and I know what I mean, and my doctor knows what I mean and is able to give me appropriate medical advice based on that, doesn't it follow that there is such a thing as "stomach flu", even if it only exists as an idea in our heads*?

I mean, sure, it's not the same as flu flu, but seriously. If I can take something that grows in the dirt and call it a "peanut" while being totally aware that it is neither a pea, nor a nut, and expect that the whole world** will understand me and not quibble over my language, I think we can all agree*** that the phrase "stomach flu" means a specific group of symptoms. And as long as we've achieved the ultimate goal of communication, does it really matter what we call it? I'd rather say "stomach flu" and have everybody understand me than say "rotovirus" and only have doctors understand me.

*<sub>By all this "idea in our heads" talk, I mean to say that unicorns kinda exist because we can talk about unicorns and we all share the same basic images of unicorns, even though you can't go out and capture a unicorn in the wild since they don't happen to exist there****.

**That is, the whole world that I care about talking to.

***When I say "can all agree" I do not mean, of course, that we do all agree. I know one health teacher who would probably vehemently disagree, of course, but he's not part of the whole world that I care about talking to ;)

****Unless of course they do and nobody has ever seen one, nor seen any evidence for them. Lack of proof is not proof of lack, etc. etc. etc. It is very unlikely that there is such a thing as unicorns, outside of our minds and language, but logically, I don't see how you can really *prove* they aren't there. Kinda like God, yes.</sub>

Comments

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

I don't say "stomach flu," and it kind of mildly irritates me when people refer to it as "stomach flu," but then again I didn't know the actual name of any viruses that cause stomach problems other than Norwalk (which is the name of a furniture store in my city, which I find somewhat amusing), which I believe is caused by "norovirus". I usually just say "a tummy bug" or something else less specific, but that's just me.

I forgot what else I was going to say. Oh well. Comments can be edited now.

Edit: Okay, according to Wikipedia: "Common names of the illness caused by Noroviruses are winter vomiting disease, viral gastroenteritis, acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis, food poisoning, and (in American slang) stomach flu." (Emphasis theirs.) But "food poisoning" is completely inaccurate, because it is a virus and not caused by food, so I don't know why anyone would call it that. That bugs me a lot more than "stomach flu." At least flu is a virus, so it is a somewhat accurate description.

[(Anonymous)]

Gastroenteritis also goes by stomach flu in German (Magen-Darm-Grippe).

[conuly]

They probably call it food poisoning because they have no idea what they're suffering from. Or possibly because it can be spread through fecal-contaminated food, which... ew!

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

The current Wikipedia edit shows no evidence of "food poisoning", and "stomach flu" has been deëmphasised with no pejorative mention of slang. So for now WP agrees with you on food poisoning enough to remove it, and with conuly on "stomach flu" enough to think it needed no qualifiers and was simply a common name, however technically inaccurate. I love vox populi in action ;)

Speaking of collective action editing wikipedia articles almost as fast as people can complain about them, the reason I'm commenting on this a month and a half late is that conuly's original post got me to make some changes to the peanut article, and I just remembered her role in this while reverting some vandalism. Remember, the time it takes to say one disagrees with something on wikipedia is the same it takes to edit an article or make a comment in the Talk section! ;)

[conuly]

And the time it takes to keep it edited, how long is that?

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

I actually have a problem, more with when people use just the word 'flu' to refer to any and all stomach problems of that nature.

Last year I was on my way out of an asthma crisis, and somewhat immunocompromised from Prednisone, and it would have been bad for me to get the real flu.

So someone comes along and says, "I have the flu but I came to work anyway."

Insert me getting as far away from them as possible and explaining all this stuff about how they should not get near me with that kind of thing, only to find out they meant vomiting or something. (And then explaining to them what the flu actually is because they didn't know.)

[conuly]

The real problem there is that people should not be coming in to work when they are contagious, and they should not be put in a position where they feel they *cannot* stay home because they cannot afford it or cannot risk losing their job over illness.

[conuly]

And yes, that clarity of language was totally not where it should have been.

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

If I can take something that grows in the dirt and call it a "peanut" while being totally aware that it is neither a pea, nor a nut, and expect that the whole world** will understand me and not quibble over my language

But that's wrong! :P

By the way, way back when you made this comment I edited the wikipedia article on peanuts to explain exactly in what way it IS a kind of pea. I was reverting some vandalism to the article today and it reminded me I meant to raise the point here. Cheers!

[conuly]

It is a pea? Seriously?

WHY HAS NOBODY INFORMED ME OF THIS BEFORE????

So, inform me - why is it a pea, in what way?

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

I don't say "stomach flu," and it kind of mildly irritates me when people refer to it as "stomach flu," but then again I didn't know the actual name of any viruses that cause stomach problems other than Norwalk (which is the name of a furniture store in my city, which I find somewhat amusing), which I believe is caused by "norovirus". I usually just say "a tummy bug" or something else less specific, but that's just me.

I forgot what else I was going to say. Oh well. Comments can be edited now.

Edit: Okay, according to Wikipedia: "Common names of the illness caused by Noroviruses are winter vomiting disease, viral gastroenteritis, acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis, food poisoning, and (in American slang) stomach flu." (Emphasis theirs.) But "food poisoning" is completely inaccurate, because it is a virus and not caused by food, so I don't know why anyone would call it that. That bugs me a lot more than "stomach flu." At least flu is a virus, so it is a somewhat accurate description.

[lviriditas.livejournal.com]

Gastroenteritis also goes by stomach flu in German (Magen-Darm-Grippe).

[conuly]

They probably call it food poisoning because they have no idea what they're suffering from. Or possibly because it can be spread through fecal-contaminated food, which... ew!

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

The current Wikipedia edit shows no evidence of "food poisoning", and "stomach flu" has been deëmphasised with no pejorative mention of slang. So for now WP agrees with you on food poisoning enough to remove it, and with conuly on "stomach flu" enough to think it needed no qualifiers and was simply a common name, however technically inaccurate. I love vox populi in action ;)

Speaking of collective action editing wikipedia articles almost as fast as people can complain about them, the reason I'm commenting on this a month and a half late is that conuly's original post got me to make some changes to the peanut article, and I just remembered her role in this while reverting some vandalism. Remember, the time it takes to say one disagrees with something on wikipedia is the same it takes to edit an article or make a comment in the Talk section! ;)

[conuly]

And the time it takes to keep it edited, how long is that?

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

I actually have a problem, more with when people use just the word 'flu' to refer to any and all stomach problems of that nature.

Last year I was on my way out of an asthma crisis, and somewhat immunocompromised from Prednisone, and it would have been bad for me to get the real flu.

So someone comes along and says, "I have the flu but I came to work anyway."

Insert me getting as far away from them as possible and explaining all this stuff about how they should not get near me with that kind of thing, only to find out they meant vomiting or something. (And then explaining to them what the flu actually is because they didn't know.)

[conuly]

The real problem there is that people should not be coming in to work when they are contagious, and they should not be put in a position where they feel they *cannot* stay home because they cannot afford it or cannot risk losing their job over illness.

[conuly]

And yes, that clarity of language was totally not where it should have been.

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

If I can take something that grows in the dirt and call it a "peanut" while being totally aware that it is neither a pea, nor a nut, and expect that the whole world** will understand me and not quibble over my language

But that's wrong! :P

By the way, way back when you made this comment I edited the wikipedia article on peanuts to explain exactly in what way it IS a kind of pea. I was reverting some vandalism to the article today and it reminded me I meant to raise the point here. Cheers!

[conuly]

It is a pea? Seriously?

WHY HAS NOBODY INFORMED ME OF THIS BEFORE????

So, inform me - why is it a pea, in what way?