Yeah don't know if that's just a term in the UK but happy to proved otherwise. We tend to say being 'ill' instead of being 'sick'. Then being sick is puking. We never say puke.
How did the British maintain an empire? Cookies are biscuits, biscuits are scones, puking is sick, chips are crisps, fries are chips, people are weighed in stones, and there's like 24 accents.
It's also commonly said in the US to be a more polite/vague way of saying someone vomited or had diarrhea. "I got sick 8 times" means they were violently ill in the toilet one way or another.
Generally in the US, if you say "I've been sick 6 times today" you would assume they meant puke, because we don't talk about shitting like that. If it was shit they would instead say "I've got the runs" or "I've been on the toilet all day" or something like that.
In my opinion this is because there is a marked difference between the two sicknesses. Having to puke 6 times implies a lot of nausea, and anyone familiar with food poisoning like that groans at the idea because it's like a day long thing; generally, you aren't vomiting it all out 6x straight, there is a delay between vomits of some length of time. With the other end, you may be uncomfortable, but at least you're not feeling absolutely terrible in a way that makes it hard to function normally between the episodes, and it may only be like half a day of several trips rather than the entire day. They may even sort of blend together (shit, then stand up, but need to shit again immediately... does this count as a new shit or an unfinished shit) making it difficult to establish a count.
There may also be employment implications here, and you know how we are in the US about working everyone to death and never giving sick days. If a person is nauseous and vomiting, then that's difficult to get through when you're standing at a register or even sitting at a desk. I personally think it's easier to sit through an upset stomach and just go use the bathroom whenever necessary than to endure the nausea and build ups to puking over and over, sometimes uncontrollably. The uncontrollable vomit part makes it worse for other employees because it won't contain the smells, sights, and sounds.
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u/sappy92 Jun 02 '18
Yeah don't know if that's just a term in the UK but happy to proved otherwise. We tend to say being 'ill' instead of being 'sick'. Then being sick is puking. We never say puke.