HEALTH AND ILLNESS

Introduction In the English-speaking world, the questions „How are you?“ is usually just a polite greeting. Don’t respond with a complete report of your health status, or details of your gastric flu. The expected answer is „Fine, thanks“ or, at worst, „Oh, not too bad, thanks.“ health status – zdravotní stav gastric flu – střevní chřipka

Being indirect English speakers generally do not discuss medical problems in detail during conversations at work. Instead, they prefer to use softening expressions or idioms: -I’m not feeling too well. I think I’d better go home. -I’ve got a bit cold. I hope you don’t catch it! -Do you mind if we cancel our meeting? I’m feeling a bit under the weather. -I need some fresh air. I’m feeling slight off-colour. under the weather: feel ~~~ – necítit se dobře off-colour : feel ~~~ – necítit se dobře

Sick or ill? In British English, if someone does not feel well, we generally say he or she is ill. In American English, the adjective „sick“ is more common: John, can’t come in today because he’s ill. Is it OK if I leave early today? My daughter’s sick. If you are going to „be off sick“ (US: „be out sick“), you will probably „call in sick“; that is, you will phone your company to say that you cannot go to work: Half the team is off sick at the moment. We’ll never finish the project on time! Jane has called in sick. She won’t be in for the rest of the week.

Sick or ill? In the UK, the expression „be sick“ often is used to refer to vomiting. In the whole English-speaking world, „feel sick“ (US also: „feel sick to one’s stomach“) refers to a feeling of nausea: I shouldn’t have eaten that fish. I think i am going to be sick! Riding in the back of a car always makes me feel sick to my stomach. nausea - nevolnost

Aches and pains? The noun „ache“ refers to a constant pain. I get toothache from eating ice cream. You wouldn’t have an aspirin for me, would you? I’ve got rather a bad headache. For other parts of the body, we use the noun „pain“ or the verb „hurt“: If you have sharp pain in your chest, you’d better go see a doctor immediately. My wrist is hurting from working at a computer.

Aches and pains? The verb „hurt“ is also used in connection with injuries: He hurt his back playing football yesterday. They had an accident, but luckily no one was hurt. Oops! Have you hurt yourself?

A common cold Colds are very common and usually cause a sore throat and a cough. After sneezing, people often say: „Excuse me.“ or, if they are American: „Pardon me.“ Many people respond with: „Bless you.“ sore throat – bolest v krku cough – kašel sneeze - kýchat

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