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Approximate British equivalent of the American playground term cooties, meaning a fictitious, yet highly infectious disease. Unlike cooties, now used by adults to refer to an general undefined infectious malady.

Normally used in the form "the dreaded lurgy".

The term originates from an episode of the 1950s radio comedy "The Goon Show" in which an epidemic of "The Dreaded Lurgi" was said to be about to sweep across Britain. It turned out that the lurgi was in fact a ficitious disease created by brass instrument makers who had claimed that no brass band player had ever died of the lurgi (thereby increasing sales hugely).

"The Goon Show" was an anarchic and surreal radio comedy series that starred Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe. It was written by Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes.
I think I've got the dreaded lurgy.

He's not coming into work today, apparently he's coming down with a lurgy.

I'm not quite sure what's wrong. Just some form of lurgy.

Urgh. You've got the LURGY!
Lurgy by mammon_the_source August 3, 2009
Related Words

lurgy lounge 

A handful of contract workers who are so ass cheap, they refuse to miss a day's pay and come into work and bring in their cootie bug germies and infect everyone.
Thank god its the last day of working in the Lurgy Lounge for a few weeks.

Tired of listening to the sporking, hucking and borking of the guys in the Lurgy Lounge
lurgy lounge by Miss Canuckie December 23, 2009
an illness that is not serious but passes easily from person to person.
My throat is sore and my head hurts. I think I've caught the dreaded lurgy.
lurgy by SnowManCymru October 28, 2008
Man, I have this really bad stomach lurgy.
lurgy by Anonymous July 21, 2003

the dreaded lurgy 

The dreaded lurgy is an illness that is not to serious but which is very easy to catch.
It's almost worth catching the dreaded lurgy to be looked after by those fit nurses.

lurgyboy 

An individual, usually male who insisits on being filthy, and carries the lurgy sickness- usually transmitted by faecal matter.
In 2005 a case of the lurgies was reported from Isleworth, Middlesex, U.K, in which an unknown vagrant (lurgyboy) relieved himself on the school sand pit.

Long jumpers the following day were taken into hospital following severe contamination of the dreaded

lurgy.

e.g lurgy (carried by shit)
Infections included pink eye (shit in eye), dysentery, and worms
lurgyboy by WinnieTheShite April 18, 2010