Cooties is, in childlore, a kind of infectious disease. The term may have originated with references to lice, fleas, and other parasites. A child is said to "catch" cooties through any form of bodily contact, proximity, or touching of an "infected" person or from a person of the opposite sex of the same age. Often the "infected" person is someone who is perceived as "different" and bears some kind of social stigma: of the opposite sex, disabled, someone who is shy or withdrawn, someone who has peculiar mannerisms, etc. The phrase is most commonly used by children aged 4–10; however, it is also used by many others older than 10.

Contents

• 1 Origin
• 2 Other terms
• 3 Play treatment
• 4 Cooties in popular culture
  • 4.1 Comic strips
  • 4.2 Film
  • 4.3 Literature
  • 4.4 Music
  • 4.5 Television
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Noun

cootie (plural cooties)

1. (North America, colloquial) A louse.
2. (North America, colloquial, childish, usually plural) Any germs or contaminants, real or imagined, especially germs from the opposite gender (for pre-pubescent children).

   I’m not drinking from his glass until I wash the cooties off it.

• boy germs
• girl germs

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• Save The Antibiotic
  savetheantibiotic.com
  [ ] - Explains how bugs can become resistant to these drugs, and illustrates the idea with cartoons, games and quizzes.
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