Talk:epizootic

In addition to the medical sense, the entry has "(dialect, humorous) A disease or ailment."

In what dialect is "epizootic" used humorously? Rspeer 20:56, 6 March 2011 (UTC)


 * In the rural Southern and Midwestern United States, people spoke/speak of /ðə ɛpɪˈzu(ː)dɪks/, written "the epizootics" or "the epizoodics". I heard it never without the article nor without the "s" (in speech and text), but it was treated as singular, probably by analogy to "the flu" etc. Those using it of humans seemed to be aware that it was nonstandard and had properly something to do with animals, but I doubt if they knew, that the proper pronunciation was a syllable longer. Collocations were "he had the epizootics" (he was sick, he had some disease), "she got the epizootics", "don't go out in the rain dressed like that, you'll catch the epizootics" (you'll catch a cold or other illness, you'll get sick). The use is at least a hundred years old. I have added a few quotations from literature. I would say "sometimes humorous". - -sche 03:46, 7 March 2011 (UTC)


 * And now I know. Thanks. Rspeer 05:23, 8 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Cited. - -sche 04:55, 12 March 2011 (UTC)