sick as a dog

I am well and truly sick. I mean, I usually have a cold (even two) during the year, and I get miserable and self-pitying and then it's gone and I forget. But this one is really making me crawl into bed at every opportunity, my body aches all over, my head thumps during the night, I cough (I won't describe that too much) and splutter, my chest feels like a 300 pound gorilla is leaning an elbow on it. It's been a week and I had to cancel meetings, dog walks, dinners, movie dates. Very odd though - I can still taste food, and my appetite is still voracious. So much for jump starting that diet through illness. So, friends have made a steady pilgrimage through the house with food for my meal after next....very cool. And today I even made a fantastic stew - chopping onions, potatoes, rutabagas, turnips and my favorite kohlrabi feverishly and tossing a little sauteed italian sausage in and sprinkling with dill,fennel and pepper. And tonight Susie arrived with a melange - isn't that a pretentiously great word - a melange of remedies all of which I have committed to try. From Wellness formula to Yin Chiao, Honey Loquat Syrup, Theraflu, Zicam and Sudafed for 'severe cold'. Add in my usual 3 Advil and I'm set.

But I was wondering about the origins of the phrase 'sick as a dog' and it seems the earliest mention of it was in the early 18th century, and while no-one seems to know exactly why, it joins a set of catchphrases which use dogs to describe a negative or unpleasant situation - dog-tired, go to the dogs, dog's breakfast and of course Shakespeare's poetic one liner from The Life Of Timon Of Athens  'Away, thou issue of a mangy dog'. Remember that one when someone tries a crass pick up line in a bar.

So, I'm settling in for week two of being freakin' sick - as a dog - and I'm so annoyed about it. What really annoyed me today was that as I grabbed for the Advil this morning I must've missed and found myself downing a handful of K9 Aspirin instead. The beef flavor gave it away. 

Comments

[Deb in Minnesota]

Jill, I hope you don't mind that I laughed out loud about the K9 aspirin. Awwww, hope you are feeling better soon! If this hangs on, go see a doctor because I wouldn't want you to get walking pneumonia.