1. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2013
    Messages:
    18,385
    Likes Received:
    7,080
    Location:
    Ralph's side of the island.

    I need an alternative to "cooties".

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by GingerCoffee, Apr 24, 2013.

    The setting is the future on another planet these people from Earth now live. This is a 10 yr old girl in a small village. She's 1-2 yrs younger than the clique of girls who tease her. She's not invited to a party all the other girls are invited to. An older boy is asking her why she isn't at the party.

    “Why aren’t you at Emgee’s party?” Mark asked.
    “I was unvited.”
    “Why? All the girls are there.”
    “I have cooties.” I decided I was proud to have them.
    “There’s no such thing as cooties.”
    “They’re invisible.”
    “You don’t have cooties, Brin.” ​

    Reactions to this exchange have been mixed.

    "Cooties" is something younger kids would say.
    "Cooties" is not something kids in the future would say.

    I tried an alternative, "grungies", and the complaint was, "What does that mean?"

    "They don't like me" is too direct. I need something Brin can choose to embrace instead of something that engenders pity.

    A Google search was not productive. My son is 24. I don't know what insults 10-12 yr old girls might be calling each other. Perhaps some of you do?

    Thanks,
    Ginger
     
  2. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2010
    Messages:
    10,742
    Likes Received:
    9,991
    Location:
    Near Sedro Woolley, Washington
    Your setting is the future on another planet. Twelve-year-old girls won't be using the same slang and insults you used when you were that age. I think you have to make something up, and you have to introduce it earlier in the story so readers will know what it means. You might try the trick Anthony Burgess used in A Clockwork Orange and borrow words from another language. What's Dutch (for example) for cooties? Or Japanese, or Greek? Do you have any bilingual friends you could ask?
     
  3. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2013
    Messages:
    18,385
    Likes Received:
    7,080
    Location:
    Ralph's side of the island.
    I'll give Babelfish a try. Thanks.

    Google and Bing translate give "cooties" regardless of language. I need a native speaker since it's a colloquialism.
     
  4. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2013
    Messages:
    18,385
    Likes Received:
    7,080
    Location:
    Ralph's side of the island.
    I found something by following your suggested trail. 'Kutu' is the Polynesian word 'cooties' is thought to have originated from.

    Another source suggested, 'AIDS' might be the modern replacement for 'cooties'.
     
  5. Xatron

    Xatron New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2013
    Messages:
    566
    Likes Received:
    6
    A quick Google search provided these results:
    when adults use the word cooties, it usually means STD's in general and not just AIDS or chlamydia or so.
    The Portuguese word for cooties is "piolhos" or "piolos".
    The Turkish word is "hastasin".
    The Gaul word is "piolos".
    The Estonian word is "teids".
    In Swedish it is "löss".
    In Slovenian "baciles".

    I could probably try to give you examples in Greek, Japanese, German or Spanish since i speak them, but to my knowledge there is not a single word used for this meaning in any of those languages.
     
  6. SwampDog

    SwampDog Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 5, 2013
    Messages:
    407
    Likes Received:
    109
    Location:
    Back in Blighty
    .
    'I've got The Itch!'

    Make it special as a proper noun, and it seems to sum up all sorts of related ailments of that genre. :eek:
     
  7. Xatron

    Xatron New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2013
    Messages:
    566
    Likes Received:
    6
    The Itch suggests a fictional condition one would invent for himself, not for others. Like those suspicious headaches women have from time to time. One couldn't know if the other has an itch or not.
     
  8. erebh

    erebh Banned Contributor

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2013
    Messages:
    2,642
    Likes Received:
    481
    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I remember as kids we called them Lurgees (with a hard G) - "Ha ha Jonny's got the lur-gees" I have no idea of it's origin, probably something cruel knowing kids but it wasn't a good thing to have however invented the word is.

    I think having the "itch" would mean having crabs - to me anyway.

    And after some very quick research I found the origins which are quite funny and now make perfect sense - http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lurgy
     
  9. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2013
    Messages:
    6,764
    Likes Received:
    5,393
    Location:
    Funland
    I didn't know this. I know this: Löss

    I think the best suggestion was to come up with some word that sounds like bacteria that you introduce earlier in the story. If it's a foreign word, you'd still have to explain it. Another option is: if it's a planet in the future, do they really speak English? Then you could use cooties, 'cause in any case they'd be speaking in some other language than English.
     
  10. Xatron

    Xatron New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2013
    Messages:
    566
    Likes Received:
    6
    In Romanian or Bulgarian or something, the word is Bacilli (plural of Bacilus i guess). That sounds like bacteria.
     
  11. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2013
    Messages:
    18,385
    Likes Received:
    7,080
    Location:
    Ralph's side of the island.
    Thanks for all the help. I have a good idea what to do now. I'm going to use an invented slang word derived from a more modern disease that readers will recognize.

    Answering some side notes, the setting in the near future so, yes, they still speak English. This is in the opening chapter so there's no opportunity or need to introduce the term earlier.

    Those are some interesting translations, Xatron. The word "löss" (or loess) translates into "lice soils" according to KaTrian's Wiki link. I think that's one of those "lost in translation" things. ;)


    :D
     
  12. Garball

    Garball Banned Contributor

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2013
    Messages:
    2,827
    Likes Received:
    1,337
    Location:
    S'port, LA
    earth pox
     
    1 person likes this.
  13. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2013
    Messages:
    18,385
    Likes Received:
    7,080
    Location:
    Ralph's side of the island.
    I like that. I might It works, I'm going to use it. :D
     
  14. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

    Joined:
    May 19, 2007
    Messages:
    36,161
    Likes Received:
    2,827
    Location:
    Massachusetts, USA
    Cooties are slang for lice, and thus the stigma that remains with the word even though the meaning is all but lost. An annoying but non-dangerous parasite native to the environment might be a good starting point.
     
  15. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2013
    Messages:
    18,385
    Likes Received:
    7,080
    Location:
    Ralph's side of the island.
    Thanks for your input. The point wasn't about lice, it was about kids teasing and bullying other kids with an imaginary insult.

    Before cooties it was leprosy. But if you had kids today calling another kid a 'leper' you can see how that would be too out of date for a present day story. The thing about reader's reactions to my insult about having body lice was that the insult was so far out of date that it didn't fit in my future world setting. I was looking for what the current name calling might be for a 12 yr old to insult a 10 yr old with. "Earth pox" fits the bill perfectly. :)
     
  16. zShkodra

    zShkodra New Member

    Joined:
    May 24, 2013
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Look behind you..
    I know this may be a little late, since it's been four weeks and you probably already moved on with your story. I just turned 13, and I have a 11 year old sister. I know her and her friends very well.

    Nowadays you probably wouldn't hear the insult "earth pox" as it still seems a bit childish, even for that age. If I think about it, kids that age (and my age) call each other things like "idiots", dumb***, or in extreme cases even b****s. Then again, it all depends how you say it and how you mean it. If a close friend does something unmistakingly dumb, I might jokingly say "you idiot, of course you shouldn't throw your iPad!" I guess it all depends on the situation, tone/feeling, and character relationship.
     
  17. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2013
    Messages:
    18,385
    Likes Received:
    7,080
    Location:
    Ralph's side of the island.
    Thanks, I appreciate the age insight. I did go with earthpox. But there are other scenes where the other girls pick on this one. What do the girls you know say about the girls they think are uncool? How would they describe another girl not in the incrowd?
     
  18. Xatron

    Xatron New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2013
    Messages:
    566
    Likes Received:
    6
    What Ginger was looking for was not a word meant to insult the other girl but a word meant to degrade her, to identify her as a lesser person than the rest.
     
  19. Haliburton

    Haliburton New Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2013
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    2
    Location:
    Calgary Alberta
    Haliburton and "cooties"

    Hi- The original item that got to be called "cooties" was head lice in reality. This word was adopted because it was a softer way of describing this situation. In Canada, aboriginal children were being forced to start going to "white" schools and they often had head lice. It is something that is easily repaired but of course, among the other children it was something really awful just because they didn't have it themselves. The word "cooties" stuck and while head lice is almost unheard of now, in polite terms they would still probably be referred to as "cooties" I hope that this enlightens and helps you. I don't think there is another word that would say the same thing.
    Haliburton
     
  20. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2013
    Messages:
    18,385
    Likes Received:
    7,080
    Location:
    Ralph's side of the island.
    You must not have an kids in school. Head lice are far from unheard of. :p

    BTW, do you know how they spread in school age kids? Most people think the kids are rubbing heads together. That's true in preschool and maybe the in 5 and 6 yr olds. But in older kids, the culprit is often the coat rack. And adult louse is on the infested kid's coat and s/he hangs it on the rack. The coat cools off but the next kid's coat is warm, attracting the louse. So the bug plays musical coats and finds the head of the last coat that was warm.
     
  21. mg357

    mg357 Active Member

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2012
    Messages:
    420
    Likes Received:
    45
    What about the word Germs.
     
  22. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2013
    Messages:
    18,385
    Likes Received:
    7,080
    Location:
    Ralph's side of the island.
    :confused: You mean like, "you have Germs"? Everyone has germs.
     
  23. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

    Joined:
    May 1, 2008
    Messages:
    23,826
    Likes Received:
    20,815
    Location:
    El Tembloroso Caribe
    A good 90% of the cells within any human body are bacteria. This is by number, not by mass. Bacterial cells are much, much smaller in size than human cells.
     
  24. Ellsbeth

    Ellsbeth New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2013
    Messages:
    45
    Likes Received:
    0
    Kissings ?

    Kissing is something teenagers do so its a little more grown up then cooties but still in the stage where 11 year olds are trying to avoid it and its probably just me but I think of a disease when I think about this,.. actually I think there is a disease pronounced close to that,...
    Im one of those lucky people who gets coldsores around my lips from exposure to the elements and stress. Without fail every time I get one someone tells me ive got herpes.... :( merr
    late post but better late then never.
     
  25. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2013
    Messages:
    18,385
    Likes Received:
    7,080
    Location:
    Ralph's side of the island.
    They have anti-virals for that, you know. ;)
     

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice