Physicians didn't know what to call the illness when it first infected some people in Italy long ago, so they blamed it on the moon and called it influenza della luna, which means "influence of the moon."
That phrase was later shortened to the first word and cut again to the first syllable and is now widely referred to as the flu.
For a long time, people blamed the moon for many things they didn't fully understand, and that included behavior. That's why we have the word "lunatic" to describe those whose behavior is so unusual that it is somehow caused by the moon.
There are still many people who insist that a full moon causes odd behavior, and that includes police officers and journalists as well as health care workers -- nurses and staff, especially at emergency departments and attendants at long-term care facilities.
Young people also get more romantic when there's a full moon.
So is all this true, or just another social legend?
You decide.
That phrase was later shortened to the first word and cut again to the first syllable and is now widely referred to as the flu.
For a long time, people blamed the moon for many things they didn't fully understand, and that included behavior. That's why we have the word "lunatic" to describe those whose behavior is so unusual that it is somehow caused by the moon.
There are still many people who insist that a full moon causes odd behavior, and that includes police officers and journalists as well as health care workers -- nurses and staff, especially at emergency departments and attendants at long-term care facilities.
Young people also get more romantic when there's a full moon.
So is all this true, or just another social legend?
You decide.
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