Health and Disease

BB1 When a person has been injured so that when he walks he steps more heavily on one foot than the other: “He ________.”

BB2 If a person is careful not to put much weight on his injured leg, you might say he was ________ that leg.

BB3a What do you call a pain that strikes you suddenly in the neck? [Early QRs: . . a sudden muscular pain that comes in the neck?]

BB3b A sudden pain that strikes you in the back:

BB3c A sudden pain that comes in the side: (Gesture.)

BB4 Other words for a pain—for example, in the arm: “He’s had a ________ in his arm for a week.”

BB5 A general feeling of discomfort or illness that isn’t any one place in particular:

BB6 A sudden feeling of weakness, when sometimes the person loses consciousness:

BB7 A feeling that lasts for a short while, with difficult breathing and heart beating fast:

BB8 When a person’s joints and muscles ache and sometimes swell up, especially in damp weather, he may have ________.

BB9 A sickness in which you have a severe cough and difficult breathing—it often starts with a cold, and lasts a week or two:

BB10 What other names or nicknames are used, or used to be used, around here for tuberculosis?

BB11 Speaking of a deep cough that you can’t seem to get rid of: “Listen to him ________.”

BB12 The kind of cough that comes with bronchitis: “He has a ________ cough.”

BB13 Other words used around here for chills and fever:

BB14 To suddenly become unconscious and fall: “Just as she came to the door she ________.”

BB15 Somebody who is unconscious from a hard blow: “He’s been ________ for ten minutes.”

BB16a If something a person ate didn’t agree with him, he might be sick ________ his stomach. (Gesture.)

BB16b If something a person ate didn’t agree with him, he might just feel a bit ________.

BB17 Other words or expressions used around here for vomiting:

BB18 To vomit a great deal at once:

BB19 Joking names for looseness of the bowels:

BB20 Joking names or expressions for overactive kidneys:

BB21 Other words for being constipated:

BB22 What home remedies do you have around here for constipation? (Open question)

BB23 The disease where the skin becomes a yellowish color:

BB24 Other names for a rash that comes out suddenly—from hives or something else: “He’s got some kind of ________ all over his chest.”

BB25 What are some common skin diseases around here? (Open question)

BB26 About a disease that spreads easily from one person to another: “Scarlet fever is very ________.” [Asked in early Questionnaires only]

BB27 When somebody pretends to be sick (often to get out of doing something) you’d say he’s ________.

BB28 Joking names that people make up for imaginary diseases: “He must have the ________.”

BB29 What do you call the red flesh that sometimes grows in a wound and keeps it from healing right? [Early QRs: . . grows in a wound when it is healing?]

BB30 What do you call a hard, painful swelling (often on a finger) that seems to come from deep under the skin?

BB31 When a swelling begins to get less, you say it’s ________. [Asked in early Questionnaires only]

BB32 If somebody had a swelling—for example, in his whole face—you might say, “Last week his face was all ________.”

BB33a What do you call a swelling under the skin, bigger than a pimple, that comes to a head?

BB33b What do you call a swelling under the skin—if it is very big or serious?

BB34a What remedies do you use to bring a boil to a head? [Asked in early Questionnaires only]

BB34b What is a poultice made with? [Asked in early Questionnaires only]

BB35 The yellowish stuff that comes out of a boil when the head breaks:

BB36 When there’s an open sore and this yellowish stuff is coming out of it, you say it’s ________.

BB37 When yellowish stuff comes out of a person’s ear, he has a ________.

BB38 When a person doesn’t look healthy, or looks as if he hadn’t been well for some time, you’d say, “He looks ________.”

BB39 On a day when you don’t feel just right, though not actually sick, you might say, “I’ll be all right tomorrow—I’m just feeling ________ today.”

BB40 If you’re inquiring about somebody acting strangely: “All of a sudden he got up and left. What do you suppose ________ him?”

BB41 Not seriously ill, but sick enough to be in bed: “He’s been ________ for a week.”

BB42 If a person is very sick you say he’s ________.

BB43 A person who has to stay in bed all the time: “For two years now he’s been ________.”

BB44 Words used around here about a person just starting some sickness—for example, pneumonia: “He ________ pneumonia.”

BB45 The time that an illness lasts—for example, stomach trouble: “He’s been having a long ________ of stomach trouble.”

BB46 Words and expressions about someone who has been very sick but now is getting better: “He’s ________.”

BB47 Feeling in the best of health and spirits: “I’m feeling ________!”

BB48 When a person has too much sugar in his blood and may have to take insulin for it, you’d say he has ________.

BB49 What other kinds of diseases are common around here, or used to be common? (Open question)

BB50a What are the favorite remedies around here for a cough? (Open question)

BB50b Remedies for chest colds: (Open question)

BB50c Remedies for infections: (Open question)

BB50d Favorite spring tonics around here: (Open question)

BB51a What cures for corns or warts do you have around here? (Open question)

BB51b Are there any ‘magical’ cures for corns or warts, like rubbing them with something special, or in a special way?

BB52 What joking words do you have around here for a dentist?

BB53a What joking names do you have for a doctor?

BB53b What do you call a doctor who is not very capable or doesn’t have a very good reputation?

BB54 When a sick person is past hope of recovery, you’d say he’s (a) ________.

BB55 What other expressions are used around here to say that a person died?—serious expressions: [Asked in early Questionnaires only]

BB56 Joking expressions for dying: “He ________.”

BB57 If someone committed suicide, you’d say he ________.

BB58 The person who prepares a dead body for burial: [Asked in early Questionnaires only]

BB59 The box that a body is put into for burial: [Asked in early Questionnaires only]

BB60 When friends and relatives gather together at the place where the body is, usually the night before the funeral, you call that:

BB61a Other words used around here for a cemetery:

BB61b Any joking names for a cemetery?

DARE Data Summary by Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.