GOING UP?

What’s so funny about this? This is the perfect joke for flu season. As you probably know “flu” is short for the respiratory disease, influenza. It’s similar to a cold only it lasts longer and is a lot nastier and can lead to pneumonia. “Flu” has a homonym spelled f-l-u-e. This “flue” is the part of a chimney that allows air to come in and smoke to go out. The word is almost synonymous with chimney. But we’re talking about the illness, not the fireplace. The flu is caused by a virus, which is a microscopic organism; it can’t be seen by the human eye. Not too long ago, before viruses were better understood, they were called “germs”. Humans really need to experience things through their senses. Things like atoms, and viruses somehow are less real and maybe more frightening because they can’t be seen. We just have to believe they exist because we experience their effects. During the last century, someone came up with the term “bug” as a slang synonym for “germ”. “Bug” is also a slang wor