When I was growing up, my mother, who was raised by Russian/Irish parents near the lake in south Chicago in the 1930s,40s,
 used the phrase "blue gar botch" to idenitfy any otherwise unidentifiable illnesses.
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I know a botch can mean sickness with rash and some Gar fish have bluish scales but wonder where this phrase originated and if anyone else has heard it.
It's a new one on me. Â Online Etymology Dictionary doesn't know about it. Â And you're ahead of me; I know about "botch" and "gar", of course, but I never knew gars might have bluish scales.
I never heard of it. The "gar botch" part reminds me of "garbage." But I never heard of "blue garbage" either. We did have "the creeping crud" though!
Bob Bridges said:
It's a new one on me. Â Online Etymology Dictionary doesn't know about it. Â And you're ahead of me; I know about "botch" and "gar", of course, but I never knew gars might have bluish scales.
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Have to admit only way I knew about the blue is an Ebay site selling rustic blue gar fish scales for scrapbooking. (??)
I keep thinking this is some  obscure fish disease.  Mom treated it as a casual thing. We didn't feel good, she said we had the Blue Gar Botch! Â