The flu

“This is too much! Most of the tenants have a bit of a fever, so the building supervisor says she’s shutting off the central heating.”
(Ric et Rac, Paris, 1933)

The flu

1) Bacillus. “You’re kidding, Doctor, that such a little bacillus breaks down a person.”
2) Fear. “I can’t reach out to you, I’ve got the flu.”
3) Remedy. “Are you drunk again?” “Don’t believe it, woman, I was treating the flu this time.”
(Sädemed, Tartu, 1933)

Flu in the household

“I’m pretty sure I have the flu.”
“It’s nothing at all. What would be serious is if you were to give it to me.”
(La Dépêche, Toulouse, 1933)

Better to postpone

Smith’s Weekly, Sydney, 1933

Diagnosis: depression

“It seems that a sleeping sickness epidemic is raging in America… the business of economic recovery has also fallen asleep.”
(Az Ojság, Budapest, 1933)

Preferences

“And your parents are also in agreement that you are engaged to this disgusting fellow?”
“But please, first of all, he has money, and second, tuberculosis.”
(Die Muskete, Vienna, 1933)

On the decline

They say the flu is already going down.
“What would have to go down are the robberies and gunmen.”
(La Esquella de la torratxa, Barcelona, 1933)

Freedom

“Are you also going to the pharmacy, Mr. Anton?”
“On the contrary, I’m going to take advantage of the fact that my whole family is down with the flu.”
(La Esquella de la torratxa, Barcelona, 1933)

The flu belongs in bed

Detail from a humorous story in Moravian Illustrated Reporter, subtitled “A few words about flu heroes.”
Spraying catarrh (i.e., snot) in the tram: “Oh, please, what are you looking at? Haven’t you ever seen anyone sneeze?”
(Moravský illustrovaný zpravodaj, Prague, 1933)

Medical informer

“The flu having appeared everywhere, and particularly in England, one sees the patients above undergoing chlorine gas treatment to fight against infection of the upper airways.”
(l’Informateur Médical, Paris, 1933)