Definitive Jest

Entry:    grippe (n.)

In context:  “…except in French…which together with honking adenoidal inflection the guy’s grippe gives his speech doesn’t even sound like human speech.”

Definition:  Influenza. 

Other:    Calling it grippe makes it sound much more old-timey, like something pirate’s caught, or perhaps a bad case of some intestinal plague you might develop canoeing in a tropical backwater river.

SNOOT score:   2

Page:   58

Source:   Oxford English Dictionary