bisery

[ellenkushner]

If you have a serious fever but also a very stuffy nose, is it a flu or a cold, or both ? (Also, aggressive projectile sneezing clearly designed to infiltrate the immune systems of anyone unfortunate enough to come within my range....)

Re. my last entry on Ladino:

"The medieval Castilian Spanish spoken by the Jews of Spain at the time of the expulsion
[all non-Christians were expelled from Spain in 1492 by decree of Ferdinand & Isabella - there is even a charming theory that Columbus, who had been passing as Genoese, had to get out because he wasn't - and in fact, he sailed the day the edict came into place, taking with him a couple of Jewish crew members - ek ]
is called Judeo-Spanish, Judeo-español, Djudezmo, Spanyolit, Spaniol de mosotros, and Sephardí; in Morocco it was called Haketía, and in Yugoslavia, Djidyó. The language was spoken and written, first in Hebrew characters (Rashi script) and recently, in the Latin alphabet. It was preserved in exile largely by the women, whose insulated life protected the language and maintained its vitality. The language, which uses many Hebrew words and roots, is enriched by the environments which became new homes, with words from the Arabic, Greek, Turkish, French, and Italian languages, among others. It is often called Ladino which, historically, was the language, emerging from Latin, into which liturgical Hebrew texts were translated."

- this from the website of Voice of the Turtle, probably the first American group to make a career of Sephardic music. I did a radio special with them some years ago - a kind of "Chanukah pageant" of a Sephardic family down the ages - and a live stage performance of that show, with different musicians and me playing all the parts, is available for booking.

Comments

[neonnurse.livejournal.com]

I don't associate anything but MAYBE a degree and a half of fever with colds, in general. Are these symptoms different from how common colds usually come on, for you? It does sound kind of flu-like to me.

For anything viral, I recommend taking a good high and steady dose of L-lysine, an inexpensive amino acid supplement readily available at most drug stores. It interferes with the replication process of the viruses, which will help you recover sooner. Also try to avoid nuts and chocolate (sorry), since the arginine in them promotes viral reproduction.

Good luck!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Thags.

[paulakate.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't top that for medical advice, but do feel better!

[vschanoes.livejournal.com]

Sweetie, you sound like you feel crappy enough for it to be a flu. Don't make the mistake I made--don't insist to yourself that it is "only a cold" and that you can get up and go to work, even with one half of your head running like a tap and body aches and tremors like the ones that decimated San Francisco back in the day. This is how I ended up with full-fledged asthma. Take to your bed and demand that your loved ones bring you chicken soup and orange juice! Take Tylenol to bring your fever down, too. And sleep as much as humanly possible. And stay under lots of covers until your fever breaks. And, and...

I send you lots of love, and wishes for a Happy Chanukah and speedy recovery.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Your good advice taken, with excellent results - I'm back now to bossing everyone around & trying to run things, as opposed to lying on the sofa and begging piteously. Phew! That was tough.

Hope your holidays are all you could wish!

bisery

[(Anonymous)]

Hopefully, you're better by now. As to the flu, I did run across the following at TCU in Fort Worth. AVIAN FLU Symptoms High Fever Unproductive cough Muscle aches and pains Prevention Wash hands often with hot, soapy water Avoid any unnecessary chicken sucking

Re: bisery

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

God rot those miserable chickens!

[postcardsfrom.livejournal.com]

Keep away from migratory aves -- in the at least you're now immune to this year's ordinary flu!

A New York friend of mine named Trudy who works as a Spanish translator speaks Ladino (at least used to, I don't know if she kept it up). Years and years ago she belonged to a Ladino theater group. The world being as small as it is, I wonder if you ever met?

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

The terrible thing is that I did have the flu shot, 8 weeks ago. But it was something, what I had - I'm still not quite up to scratch. Thanks for the encouragement, though!

I don't know Trudy - and had no idea NY even contains a Ladino theater group. Cool! Maybe I'll meet her in coming months....

[postcardsfrom.livejournal.com]

Oh-oh. Looks like there may be other flu strains afoot (afoot? maybe on little virus feet). Hope no others catch you!

I guess the Ladino world isn't quite small enough. I don't know if that Ladino theater still exists -- she was involved with the group quite awhile ago. She's a member of some Upper West Side congregation - I don't know which...but I'm sure you'd enjoy her conversation if you ever did meet.

Well, enough of that -- I hope you have a healthy new year.