Of all the germs kids are exposed to on the playground, there’s one they freak out about more than any other: cooties. The word first appeared during World War I as soldiers’ slang for the painful ...

We all know that cooties aren’t real. (Besides, we’ve all been vaccinated sufficiently as kids, so we’re safe.) But if they were real, what disease would cooties be? Well, let’s look at the ...

"Cooties" refers to a highly infectious disease. The word "cootie" derives from the Tagalog word "kutu," or "parasitic biting insect." The related word "kudis" translates to "playground death." The ...