the runs
needing to go quickly to the toilet
TRANSLATION
the runs = Durchfall --- GOOGLE INDEX the runs: approximately 500,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
My kitten whines all the time and just had THE RUNS, is she ok?
(question posed in an Internet pet forum)
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Does Cannabis give you THE RUNS?
(posted in the Cannabis.com forum)
(question posed in an Internet pet forum)
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Does Cannabis give you THE RUNS?
(posted in the Cannabis.com forum)
Did you
know?
the runs
noun phrase
- slang for diarrhoea
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The expression "the runs" (always includes the article), is just another word for an unpleasant, but luckily infrequent bodily function: diarrhoea. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, actually coined the word diarrhoea (U.S. English, diarrhea) from the Greek "dia" (through) and "rhein" (to flow), which was then changed to a Latin-type spelling in the 16th century.
Little did Hippocrates know that his word would be replaced by terms like "the runs", not to mention others like Montezuma's revenge (otherwise known as traveller's diarrhoea). One might guess that "the runs" stems from the idea of something that flows quickly, or perhaps it derived from the fact that sudden diarrhoea attacks sometimes demand a run to the toilet, assuming/hoping one is in the near vicinity.
The real benefit of the expression "the runs" is that it offers a practical alternative to writing the word "diarrhoea." Ask any native English speaker how to spell diarrhoea and they will search for a computer with spell checker. But sometimes paper and pen is all we have, like this mother who wanted to write her son an excuse for missing school:
"Please excuse Tommy from being absent yesterday. He had (diahre) (dyrea) (direathe) the runs."
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SYNONYMS
loose bowels, Montezuma's revenge, dysentery, flux, the squirts, the trots, tourista
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Having a case of the runs in the middle of a meeting is really embarrassing."
noun phrase
- slang for diarrhoea
---
The expression "the runs" (always includes the article), is just another word for an unpleasant, but luckily infrequent bodily function: diarrhoea. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, actually coined the word diarrhoea (U.S. English, diarrhea) from the Greek "dia" (through) and "rhein" (to flow), which was then changed to a Latin-type spelling in the 16th century.
Little did Hippocrates know that his word would be replaced by terms like "the runs", not to mention others like Montezuma's revenge (otherwise known as traveller's diarrhoea). One might guess that "the runs" stems from the idea of something that flows quickly, or perhaps it derived from the fact that sudden diarrhoea attacks sometimes demand a run to the toilet, assuming/hoping one is in the near vicinity.
The real benefit of the expression "the runs" is that it offers a practical alternative to writing the word "diarrhoea." Ask any native English speaker how to spell diarrhoea and they will search for a computer with spell checker. But sometimes paper and pen is all we have, like this mother who wanted to write her son an excuse for missing school:
"Please excuse Tommy from being absent yesterday. He had (diahre) (dyrea) (direathe) the runs."
---
SYNONYMS
loose bowels, Montezuma's revenge, dysentery, flux, the squirts, the trots, tourista
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Having a case of the runs in the middle of a meeting is really embarrassing."
