beaver fever

beaver fever
 n.— «Pender said the water treatment plant will resolve long-standing complaints that residents have had with the quality of drinking water. In the early 1990s, the city’s supply was contaminated with giardia, a parasitic infection that attacks the digestive system and is often known as “beaver fever.”» —“Money flows for $36M Corner Brook water system” CBC News July 5, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

3 comments
  • Hello!

    I’m certainly no authority, but wanted to let you know that the term “beaver fever” has been used to describe Giardia Lamblia in creeks and streams in the Lincoln City, Oregon area for 20 years (that I know of).

  • Yes I know what your fourth grade teacher taught you about proper names,capitalization and made no exceptions.
    The exceptions are scientific names. The correct name and grammar for any genus and species is as exactly as follows: Giardia lambia. This is a tropical disease which seems to have made its way northward and is someting like Montezumas revenge.

Further reading

Familiar Strangers (episode #1594)

If you take up texting and social media late in life, there’s a lot to learn! A twenty-something wants advice getting her dad up to speed on memes, Instagram, and animated images. Plus, when you’re on a long road trip, what do you call...

Pushing the Envelope (episode #1591)

Sure, there’s winter, spring, summer, and fall. But the seasons in between have even more poetic names. In Alaska, greenup describes a sudden, dramatic burst of green after a long, dark winter. And there are many, many terms for a cold snap...

Recent posts