PSA: Teminology: "man-flu"

[delta_mike]

There is no such thing as 'man-flu'.

There are colds. These are oftentimes minor, and you can usually get on with things while sniffling away.

Sometimes, they get nastier. This does genuinely mean you should take time off to recover, and that you're worthy of rest and sympathy. This is not the same thing as flu.

Flu is when you're really out of action. A fever threatening to melt lead, an inability to sensibly control your own body temperature without constantly adding / stripping layers, and aches and pains that make you feel alive in a truly awful way.

Compare and contrast: nasty cold, flu of death.

Calling a nasty cold 'flu' (or even "man-flu") is dishonest. Don't do that.

Rant on pet-hate subject ends.

Comments

[aquarionical.livejournal.com]

There is a flip side of this:

If you have a nasty cold and a fever and are able to get out of bed? You might not have flu. You are, however, of detrimental use to the universe at large and need to stay in bed. Really. Your responsibility to society is to not infect them, and whatever your deadlines are, infecting the universe is not conducive to the wider goals.

I hate the term "man flu" when people use it to make a cold sound more impressive, but even more when they use it to belittle the health of themselves or someone else. "Oh, it's just man-flu, don't be a baby".

Counter-rant ends. You are not the target of this counter-rant, but it apparently needed to be said. :)

[delta_mike]

I concur with all the above.