2/10/07

Mullygrubs and collywobbles

O, the woe! Awoke with a stomach ache. Ate some of the bread dough before I baked the runzas last night. Now I have etymological difficulties compounding my intestinal discomfort.

Does eating too many fresh baked goods cause mullygrubs or collywobbles! This isn't Pierce, Nebraska. Where's Grandma when I need her? Should I call 911?

mulligrubs
"fit of the blues," also "colic," 1599, fanciful formation.

collywobbles
1823, fanciful formation from colic and wobble.

Uses
- Punch October 1841: "To keep him from getting the collywobbles in his pandenoodles."
- Cuthbert Bede The Adventures of Mister Verdant Green, 1853: "A touch of the mulligrubs in your collywobbles?"


THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE LONDON MEDICAL STUDENT.
II.—THE NEW MAN.
Punch 10/9/1841, p. 154.

...The new man, at first, is not a great advocate for beer; but this dislike may possibly arise from his having been compelled to stand two pots upon the occasion of his first dissection. After a time, however, he gives way to the indulgence, having received the solemn assurances of his companions that it is absolutely necessary to preserve his health, and keep him from getting the collywobbles in his pandenoodles—a description of which obstinate disease he is told may be found in “Dr. Copland’s Medical Dictionary,” and “Gregory’s Practice of Physic,” but as to under what head the informant is uncertain.

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