My maternal grandmother spent most of her growing up years in Oklahoma. They speak in different tongues down there, I think. It is to my regret that I never kept a record of the strange and bizarre words or peculiar expressions she would use. Some were hilarious; others just weird.
The "punies" have hit Ann and me. Actually, I think, according to Grandma, I have a case of the punies and Ann has the "creeping crud" because she's far worse right now than I am. But then again, she started it.
I used to think feeling "puny" was just an Okie-ism. I've learned I was wrong (stunning and harsh reality that this revelation is). Accoring to Wiktionary (they have one of those), "puny" is from French descent and the plural, "punies"––as in, "I've got the 'punies'"––means "weakness, sickness."
Yeah, I got it, but as mentioned, Ann must have "the crud." That was more my mother's description for a really bad cold that got you down to the point where you felt like barely doing anything. She seldom gets this sick. I think Moms have some kind of natural immunity to lots of "normal" illnesses because they have to care for all the others in the household who come "under the weather." (Why are we under it; why not beyond it or over it or away from it?) So, when momma gets sick, things just aren't normal 'round the house.
My concern is that my "punies" don't gradually become the "creeping crud" (another "mom-ism"), settling into the full on-slaught of a case of "The Crud."
Bring on the honeyed tea and chicken soup.sic