Is there a German equivalent of this expression that makes reference
to something like an insect, bug, or vermin as a colloquial expression
for sickness?  In English we say "I've caught a bug" when we mean that
we've come down with one of those mysterious but mild short-term
illnesses ranging from a head cold to stomach flu or a "24-hour
virus."

I'm not looking for an assortment of such expressions in German; I
just want to know if there's one that has a word like "bug" in it,
and, if so, what it is literally.

If you've seen my #457043, you'll probably guess why I'm asking.

Thank you,
Archae0pteryx

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Request for Question Clarification by scriptor-ga on 14 Jan 2005 05:47 PST

Hello Archae0pteryx!

I hate answering questions with a "No", but in this case the answer
would indeed be negative: I don't know of any German expressions with
insects, relating to minor sicknesses. The closest thing that comes to
my mind is "Dir ist wohl eine Laus über die Leber gelaufen" ['Seems
that a louse/bug ran over your liver'], meaning that someone is
extraordinarily ill-humoured and grouchy.
Well, there might be such expressions in regional dialects (as a North
German, my knowledge of what is spoken in remote Bavarian valleys is
quite limited); or maybe there have been sayings that are not in use
anymore. But as far as I know, modern High German does not have any
expressions of the kind you are looking for.

Maybe Franz Kafka just had a deep aversion for bugs...

Greetings,
Scriptor

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Clarification of Question by archae0pteryx-ga on 14 Jan 2005 20:41 PST

Greetings, Scriptor, and thank you for your response.

If there is no such expression, I don't know how you could answer
otherwise.  I asked a yes-and-no question (hoping that if the answer
was yes, you would also give me the expression), and to your knowledge
the answer is no:  there is no such expression.

I have complete confidence in the reliability of your information.  So
all you have to do is post your answer.

I just thought that if such an expression existed, it would be good
for a play on words in something I'm writing.  If it doesn't, no one
will miss it (except me).

Tryx

Thank you, Tryx :-)

All the best for your play - I'm a writer myself, and I know that
writing is hard work...

Greetings,
Scriptor

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Request for Answer Clarification by archae0pteryx-ga on 15 Jan 2005 11:54 PST

Thanks, Scriptor.  I'm not actually a dramatist.  I meant "play on
words" in the sense of a pun--something to the effect that Gregor's
obsession with his job was such that he didn't dare call in sick even
if he'd caught a bug.  (I would have worked that line until it came
out better than that, and I could still do it in English, but I'd have
used the German somehow if it existed.)

What you've told me also is that Kafka didn't have--couldn't have
had--such a play on words in his own mind when he chose a bug rather
than, say, a brick, a bunny rabbit, or a glass of milk as the result
of Samsa's transformation.

Writing is indeed hard work.  I labor over the authenticity of
details, such as given names in 14th-century France and titles of
respect in Medieval Flemish, to make everything realistic that is a
candidate for realism.  As for the rest, I invent it.  That's not
easy, either, but it's fun.

Regards,
Tryx

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Clarification of Answer by scriptor-ga on 15 Jan 2005 12:05 PST

Oh, I must look pretty stupid now ... I thought you were writing a
theatre play that has something to do with the magic of words or the
like. I simply can't hide that English is not my native language - I
sometimes miss subtle nuances.

By the way, the books and stories I write deal a lot with history and
historic settings, and I think that my concept is quite similar to
yours: If I have to invent something, I try to make it plausible so
the reader can say "Well, it indeed could have been like that".
Writing fiction provides some advantages and liberties that an author
of non-fiction history books will never have...

Greetings,
Scriptor

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Request for Answer Clarification by archae0pteryx-ga on 17 Jan 2005 21:05 PST

Not at all, Scriptor, and I'm very sorry if I embarrassed you.  It is
no shame and certainly no stupidity to have less than a native command
of someone else's language.  You do us English-speakers honor by being
so fluent in our tongue.

I will return the favor you have shown me a number of times, in giving
me a careful and exact explanation of a linguistic point, and tell you
where you might have seen the clue that I was using an idiomatic
expression.  I wrote: "...it would be good for a play on words in
something I'm writing."  "In something I'm writing" tells you where I
was thinking of using it.  If you take that phrase into account, you
would not be expecting me to say "a play...in something I'm writing." 
Instead you would see that I was writing something not specified.  So
"a play on words" is something other than the work I'm creating.  It's
what I thought the bug=insect/bug=illness relationship would be good
for.  And the potential parallel there points to wordplay--which
translates directly and literally to Wortspiel.

I'm not surprised that you are a stickler for verisimilitude and
authentic detail.  I want my readers to think not only "It could have
happened like that" but "Maybe it did!"  But I love the freedom to
invent the facts that suit me and change them when they don't.

Tryx

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Clarification of Answer by scriptor-ga on 18 Jan 2005 05:28 PST

Aaaah! Thank you, Tryx. It's fantastic that not only our customers
learn something from us, but also vice versa sometimes!

I would really like to provide you a (translated) example of the
stories I write, but unfortunately we are strictly forbidden to do so.
Maybe I find a solution that does not reveal my real-life identity and
thus not violate the Google Answers rules ... I'll put on my Thinking
Cap.

Greetings,
Scriptor

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Request for Answer Clarification by archae0pteryx-ga on 19 Jan 2005 22:44 PST

Well...you could join one of those fiction-writers' websites (like
writing.com) and post a story under a pseudonym, and then point me to
it.  But that wouldn't do for something that you had published or
hoped to publish.

I'll bet there's a way, if we're clever enough.  And I'll bet it's
been done before.

Interested,
Tryx

Never anything less than the best from you, Scriptor.
Thank you,
Archae0pteryx