To think the expression 'manflu' is being over/misused?

[lecce]

I have noticed several people lately (men and women) complaining that they have 'manflu' - usually they say it in quite a snivelly tone, often accompanied by sniffing/coughing/groaning. Some of them do appear to have a cold, others not.

I thought 'manflu' was a derogatory term used to imply that the sufferer (usually a man, obviously) has a cold but is acting as if it is flu. Now people, who clearly feel, or at least want to appear, ill, are using it about themselves.
Does manflu now just mean 'a cold'?

The other day I asked a woman whether she had a good weekend and she said, in a matter-of-fact tone, "No, I had manflu." She didn't seem to have a cold - did she mean she'd been pretending to be ill all weekend ?

I know it's trivial but it bothers me. AIBU

Maybe she was complaining that her husband had the "flu"?
I.e. she had to put up with him having manflu? :o

Otherwise, it is odd indeed.
Maybe you'll care to enlighten those people?
Ask, so you had a light cold and acted like you had flu?

I think most (such) people just copy words they hear, never bother understanding their meaning and use them in the wrong place.
In 100 years we'll stop using cold and everyone will be using manflu instead.

Lol at it 'bothering' you

It is a jokey derogatory term for men who have a cold and are making a fuss but it's now used for anyone doing it.

lecce

I'd assume he meant she had a cold but made a big old hypochodriacal fuss about it, because that's what "manflu" is. So she's calling herself a hypochondriac. Which is strange.

As an aside, and at the risk of being "po", I'm not that keen on the assumption that all men are hypochondriacs. Bit sexist really. But still, they deserve it, eh?

It is a derogatory term, yes but have heard it used otherwise too.

I know somebody who genuinely believes that the term manflu exists because men experience colds/flu worse than women do. He isn't being funny, he has no discernible soh.

I've always seen this phrase as an aggressive and mocking way to undermine men when they say they have been or are ill. I can't see any value in using it at all.

this is funny, though

I thought I read some where that man flu was now a recognised term for a mild flu like illness, I could be wrong though!

I though 'manflu' was just a term for the mild colds some men get which are enough to glue them to the sofa for a few days.

I am totally irrationally irritated by the use of the word 'flu' at all, by those who have clearly just had a cold and a bit of a temp. Those who have had flu will know that there is no way on God's earth you can even stand up, let alone go to work and moan about it.

Manflu is womens way of laughing at men.Men have laughed at women for years.

Well yes, one would hope we can all laugh at each other.

I use it for myself as well as DH - and yes, it refers to having a cold but feeling so sorry for yourself you want to stay in bed and pretend it's the flu.

Everybody suffers from time to time, except farmer types and those who have something fun planned, in which case same illness is 'only a sniffle'

My friend said she had "mum flu"

This is where you are ill, and need a week of sleep and medication to recover - but you still drag you bum out of bed tolook after the children/feed the family/other normal jobs you do as a mother etc

I understood man flu to be a sniffle but where you felt overly sorry for yourself and needed to be wrapped up in blankets and feed tea whilst watching TV?