Meaning to freeze a worm (jokingly) in a reference book on phraseology. Freeze the worm: the meaning and origin of the phraseological unit Determine the meanings of the phraseological unit to freeze the worm

The expression "worm to freeze" is familiar to each of us from childhood. This verbal turnover is used in the sense of satisfying hunger, having a light snack before the main meal. It turns out that the creature hiding under the mask of an unknown worm is not so gluttonous, but why should it be starved, and not appeased or appeased?

The Spanish caterpillar and the French beast are the brothers of our worm

In many European languages ​​there is a similar concept, but it refers exclusively to booze taken on an empty stomach. The Spanish say matar el gusanillo, the Portuguese say matar o bicho, the French say tuer le ver. Literally translated, it sounds like "kill the caterpillar" and "destroy the beast." There is clearly a direct connection with our idiom "kill the worm." The meaning of a phraseological unit becomes more understandable, since the verb in its composition is synonymous with such concepts as “torture”, “lime”, “destroy”, “put to death”.

An insidious monster in the heart of a dead lady

In France, among the regulars of drinking establishments, who prefer to sit at the bar counter in the morning, a bike that is passed off as pure truth is popular. They say that once in a Parisian family a young woman died suddenly. After opening the body of the deceased, the doctors found in her heart a huge, unknown to science worm. All attempts to kill him did not lead to success, the animal turned out to be surprisingly tenacious.

In Russian, unlike French or Spanish, the expression "to freeze a worm" is a synonym for a light snack without drinking alcohol. According to some researchers, the idiom could have arisen under the influence of popular beliefs. At a time when people knew very little about the anatomical features of the human body, it was believed that there was a snake inside the abdomen, which needed to be constantly fed.

Rumbling in an empty stomach was associated with the displeasure of the monster. If his need for food was not satisfied in time, it could eat a person from the inside - it is no coincidence that with long breaks in food, it began to suck in the stomach. It is quite possible that such an idea of ​​​​the structure of the internal organs became the starting point for the expression "to freeze the worm." The meaning of the phraseological unit subsequently acquired a soft ironic coloring, and the formidable asp "turned" into a small harmless booger.

Speech borrowings and confusion of concepts

All the proposed versions look quite plausible, if you do not take into account the fact that the phrase “worm to kill” appeared in Russian only in the 19th century. Until that time, this phrase did not occur in the domestic literature. Therefore, it is not necessary to talk about the ancient Slavic roots of the idiom. You can also question the assertion that the birthplace of phraseology is medieval Europe. To remove helminths, according to historical information, it was not alcohol that was used there, but saturated solutions of table salt.

Having migrated from the Mediterranean countries to France and Germany, the verbal turnover “to kill a worm” somewhat lost its original meaning and began to be identified not with treatment, but with the adoption of alcohol for a snack. With the same meaning phraseologism penetrated into Russia. But in the Russian language there was already an expression “to freeze howl”, that is, “to eat”, “to satisfy hunger”. Over time, these phrases merged into one, and the alcoholic subtext was completely lost.

According to the first version, there was a widespread belief among Russian peasants that worms (it was understood that worms) lived in the digestive organs. And the feeling of hunger, in their opinion, is caused by worms, so you need to eat a certain amount of food so that these worms are satiated, that is, they freeze and no longer disturb a person with a feeling of hunger.

Which of the meanings is earlier? In Russian, turnover has been found since the 19th century; at the same time, expressions with a similar motivation appear in Polish (zalac robaka - 'fill the mountain with vodka or wine', literally - pour a worm) and Czech (otravit' cerva - 'improve one's mood and appetite by drinking alcohol and drown out remorse', literally - 'drown the worm' and the dialect otravit' chorbaka - 'drink something alcoholic in the morning on an empty stomach'). In the Romance languages, a similar turnover has been common since the early Middle Ages. For example, French tuer le ver ‘drink a glass of vodka or wine on an empty stomach’ (lit.: kill a worm); There are expressions similar in design and meaning in Spanish and Portuguese. French historians of the language confidently connect the tuer le ver turnover with an old folk belief, according to which you can get rid of worms by drinking vodka or white wine on an empty stomach. Most likely, both Polish and Russian turns are borrowings from Romance phraseology, a tracing paper of the French expression tuer le ver. However, later in each of the languages, the expression also acquired a national flavor. The transformation of the meaning was facilitated by the associative-metaphorical connection "worm" - "guts", "stomach", which in Russian is felt not only because of the external similarity, but also due to the consonance of the words "worm" and " womb”, “gut” – 'intestines, belly, giblets, stomach'. And the ideas about the intestines and stomach in the phraseology of Russian and many other languages ​​are usually associated not with a desire to drink alcohol, but with a feeling of hunger: cf. "guts march play". All this led to the peculiar development of the phraseological unit “to kill the worm” in the Russian language.

16.09.2010 at 16:21, views: 16630

Stay vigilant

Terrible red caviar

As explained in Rospotrebnadzor in Moscow, helminths can also be infected from fish, from red lightly salted, so appetizing-looking caviar. Perhaps you will not find a person who would not want to treat himself to fresh fish. Especially with its current abundance in the markets. But it must be borne in mind that not all fish products get into the market trade checked by veterinarians.

“Some species of fish can serve as sources of human infection with such helminthic invasions as diphyllobothriasis, anisakiasis,” sanitary doctors warn. “Many of them have never been heard of by most fish consumers. Diphyllobothriasis, for example, is caused when a person is infected with a wide tapeworm or Klebanovsky's tapeworm. Lentets refers to large worms and reaches a length of 8-10 meters, sometimes up to 25 meters. An adult tapeworm can settle not only in the small intestine of a person, but also in the stomach of a cat, dog, pig. If you have characteristic signs of infection with these worms: nausea, weakness, abdominal pain, headaches, dizziness, you should immediately consult a doctor. Pass the necessary tests.

Another complex and unknown word to most is anisakidosis - a disease that poorly salted herring can give a person. For the first time, this disease in humans was diagnosed in Holland in 1985 and was associated precisely with the use of lightly salted herring. To date, thousands of cases have been registered in Europe, North and South America and Southeast Asia. Infection of a person occurs when eating raw or half-cooked infested marine fish and seafood, “five-minute” caviar, lightly salted, slightly pickled fish. Today, the risk of contracting anisakiasis has increased due to the growing popularity of exotic oriental raw seafood dishes such as “sushi”, “heh”, “satsimi” and others. Swallowed with seafood, live anisakid larvae are actively introduced into the mucous membrane of the stomach or intestines. The period from the moment the contaminated product is consumed until the first signs of the disease appear is from 1 hour to 2 weeks.

In order to prevent human infection, it is mandatory to control seafood for infection with anisakid larvae. But who does it? Anisakid larvae quickly and completely die if the fish is well boiled or fried - at a temperature of +60 ° C and above, they die within 10 minutes. Therefore, smoked and raw fish of marine origin, not subjected to such treatment, does not guarantee its disinfection from anisakid larvae. And tapeworm can hide in dried, poorly fried or raw fish.

"Surprise" from the sandbox

BY THE WAY

Signs of the presence of worms in the body of a child: salivation, nausea, loss of appetite or pathological increase in appetite, cramping pains around the navel, stool disorder, increased fatigue, hyperactivity, headaches, dizziness, pale skin, circles under the eyes, increased excitability in the evening, unreasonable whims, poor sleep, gnashing of teeth, itching in the perineum, allergic reactions.

Health doctors advise

1. Be hygienic, wash your hands often.

2. Wash fruits and vegetables well, no matter where they come from: from the market or from the store.

5. In the summer, take care of yourself during your vacation, especially when traveling to exotic countries.

Folk remedies

HELP "MK"

Roundworm: roundworms 15-40 cm long; live in the small intestines. Ascaris eggs are excreted along with feces from the human intestine and develop in the soil. They are most often infected through the soil, unwashed vegetables.

Pinworms: small worms 3-12 mm long; live in the small and large intestines. Infection with pinworms occurs by swallowing helminth eggs that enter the mouth and nose with dust. Self-infection with pinworms can occur through dirty hands and food products.

Vlasoglavy: thin worms 30-35 mm long; live in the caecum and large intestine. Infection with whipworms occurs in the same way as infection with roundworms.

Trichinella:(trichina) very small worms up to 4 mm long. A person becomes infected with them by eating the meat of pigs, less often wild animals, in which trichin larvae are located.

Bull tapeworm:(all tapeworms are often called tapeworms) has a length of 4-10 m; a person becomes infected by eating insufficiently fried or boiled meat of cattle in which the larvae were located. Mistresses often become infected by trying raw minced meat.

Wide ribbon: up to 6-15 m long; a person becomes infected by eating poorly cooked or fried river fish.

Dwarf tapeworm: 3-5 cm long. Infection occurs through contaminated household items, on which there are eggs of worms, door handles, toilet seats. Children get sick more often.

Echinococcus: lives in the intestines of animals, most often dogs. People get infected from dogs and cats. Echinococcosis is a serious disease, the symptoms of which depend on which organ is affected.

Giardia: pear-shaped, 10–20 µm long. It lives in the human intestine, mainly in the duodenum, less often in the bile duct and gallbladder, causing giardiasis.


Almost every day we repeat the expression "kill the worm." What did the idiom "to kill the worm" originally mean? And what is the origin of this expression?

The turnover "to kill the worm" for the Russian language is relatively young, the phraseological dictionary of the 18th century does not note it.

For some reason, researchers of the Russian language stubbornly associate the expression "to kill a worm" with hunger. Moreover, in some monographs they try to replace this expression with the old Russian phrase "zamorit howl" - "to satisfy hunger, have a bite" ("howl" - "hunger, appetite").
This mistake is fixed even in the dictionary of V. I. Dahl. Volume I (in the article "to starve") indicates the meaning of "drink or snack on hunger", and in IV (in the article "worm") - "snack on hunger". It is quite obvious that it is impossible to “starve” eating food for the simple reason that it is just food for the “worm”.

The Russians borrowed the expression at the beginning of the 19th century from Romance phraseology. Among the southern peoples, the slogan is known only in the meaning of "drink alcohol on an empty stomach."

In Europe, this turnover is still very widespread: in Spanish matar el gusanillo (gusano) (literally "kill a worm or caterpillar") which means "drink a glass of vodka before breakfast", in Portuguese matar o bicho (literally "kill a worm") - "drink a glass on an empty stomach", in French tuer le ver ("kill a worm") - "drink a glass of alcohol on an empty stomach."

Unfortunately, modern commercial absinthes only remotely resemble the classic wormwood tincture; synthetic flavors and dyes are used for their production. A truly health drink is still produced according to old recipes in the Slavic countries of the Adriatic: Croatia, Slovenia, etc. These peoples have preserved the concept of the healing properties of wormwood tincture, even on the labels you can read that the drink "corrects the most difficult bellies" (in the free translation). In Slavic, it is called Pelinkowac (pelin, plin - drink, kowac - wormwood).

Since a drink is usually followed by a snack, this led to the "kill the worm" leading to a gradual dragging of the action from "drink" to "eat", which is erroneous.

Be that as it may, you must admit that it is pleasant after a walk or a bicycle ride with a glass or two to "starve a worm"!

Modern medicine does not approve of the tactics of total prevention of helminthiasis. The World Health Organization recommends prophylactic administration of anthelmintic drugs only in endemic areas, which include most of Africa, India, the Middle East, and some countries in South America. In these areas, the prevalence of helminth infections in the population is more than 20%.

On the territory of Russia, the situation with helminthic invasions is quite calm. In general, it should be said that the vast majority of helminths "prefer" a warm and humid climate. The further north, the lower their prevalence, and the lower the incidence of helminthiases. Therefore, neither children nor adult Russians are recommended today to carry out drug prophylaxis of these diseases. It would be better to watch the child. If his appetite has worsened, his body weight has decreased, abdominal pain or nighttime itching in the anal area has appeared, be sure to consult a doctor.

Medicines for worms are so toxic, I don’t want to burden the body. And you can buy bioadditives, because they are natural and also help?

However, it should be understood that there are no guarantees of a cure for helminthiases after taking supplements and cannot be. In cases where helminthic invasion is diagnosed, medications are needed that contain anthelmintic active ingredients. Only they ensure the death of helminths and complete recovery in most cases.

In addition, not only dietary supplements are made from vegetable raw materials - the same common tansy (its flowers) are an officially registered drug.

The doctor prescribed me albendazole. But in pharmacies there is a cheaper remedy, I used to often buy it for a cat - it helps a lot. So why pay more?

Among the most affordable anthelmintic drugs that are widely used in veterinary medicine is piperazine adipate. It's actually quite a powerful drug. According to the instructions for use, its effectiveness even with a single dose is 90–95%, and with repeated use it reaches 100%. Piperazine adipate has a paralyzing effect on helminths, disrupting the function of their neuromuscular system. The drug has been used in medicine since the 50s of the last century, but today it has almost been replaced by modern means. The reason was a number of disadvantages inherent in piperazine. Firstly, it works only with two invasions - ascariasis and enterobiasis (pinworm infection). Secondly, its safety profile leaves much to be desired - taking the drug may be accompanied by side effects, including abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, headache, and others. Today there are anthelmintic drugs that are much better tolerated, and albendazole is one of them.

Do you have any antihelminthic teas, herbs?

Tansy flowers and pumpkin seeds have antihelminthic properties. However, they are very selective. For example, tansy flowers exhibit a complex choleretic and anthelmintic effect in enterobiasis and ascariasis. And pumpkin seeds are active against tapeworms - bovine, pork tapeworm and some others. In addition, medicinal herbs are definitely inferior in activity to synthetic agents, although they are much less toxic. To be sure of the result of treatment, you should not rely on the effectiveness of self-treatment with herbs and consult a doctor who will prescribe modern anthelmintic drugs. If you still want to take herbal remedies, you can drink them as an addition to the main treatment, that is, to synthetic anthelmintic drugs.

The doctor prescribed albendazole for the child and added that he could take some antiallergic drugs. I don't know if they are needed.

If the child suffers from diseases of an allergic nature, for example, atopic dermatitis, bronchial asthma, then the risk of exacerbation increases during treatment with anthelmintic drugs. Therefore, antihistamines such as loratadine, cetirizine and others are often prescribed in combination with them. Preparations of this group can be started 3-5 days before the start of treatment with anthelmintic drugs. They are not canceled while taking anthelmintic drugs, as well as for 5 days after the end of therapy.

However, not all experts believe that the treatment of helminthiasis should be accompanied by the intake of antiallergic drugs. So, Western doctors do not recommend taking antihistamines, believing that there is no need for this.

I read that during treatment for worms you need to drink sorbents. It's true?

Sorbents are used in three stages - 3–5 days before the start of the main treatment, while taking antihelminthic drugs, and also 5 days after the end of anthelmintic therapy. At the same time, it is important to remember the need to strictly follow the recommendations on the time of taking sorbents: they should be used at least one hour before or one hour after eating or taking other medications.

It is also worth noting that in the West, in the treatment of helminthiases, sorbents are not prescribed.

The child was already taking medication for worms six months ago, and now the doctor prescribed it again. Wouldn't it be habit-forming?

How to find out if the medicine for worms helped or not?

The effectiveness of modern antihelminthic drugs is so high that many doctors even prefer not to conduct control diagnostic studies. With the most common helminthiases - infection with pinworms and roundworms - the use of synthetic antihelminthic drugs allows for a successful cure in almost 100% of patients. Your task is to prevent re-infection. To do this, you need to carry out sanitary and hygienic measures: often change underwear and bedding, follow the rules of personal hygiene, wash children's toys with warm water and soap if helminthiasis is detected in a child.

The doctor prescribed only one tablet of medicine for worms, and I read that they are taken several times. Will the worms die from a single pill?

The treatment regimen for helminthiasis depends on the type of helminths that are found and on the drug prescribed by the doctor. For example, with ascariasis, albendazole is prescribed once, and mebendazole can be used for three days in a row. But when infected with another common helminth - pinworms - albendazole is used at least twice with a difference of 2 weeks. Other schemes for taking antihelminthic drugs are also known. We recommend that you trust a doctor who selects a course taking into account all factors and prescribes the optimal treatment regimen.

After a vacation spent with his grandmother in the countryside, the child lost his appetite and complained of stomach pains. Tests for worms showed nothing, but the nurse in the laboratory said that it was difficult to detect them, so it was better to drink something prophylactically. Advise something, please.

It is very important to establish the correct diagnosis, and this should be done by your doctor. As for the difficulties of diagnosis, they actually exist, and above all when infected with pinworms. It is believed that the probability of detecting them during the initial study is 50%. But with three consecutive studies, it already reaches 90%. If you analyze 5 times in a row, the probability of identifying pinworms will increase to 99%. Of course, such multiple examinations are quite difficult for both the parent and the child. But it is much safer than taking anthelmintic drugs without an established diagnosis. We remind you that all of them are prescription, and only a doctor can prescribe them.

I heard that dewormers are generally poorly tolerated. It's true?

Anthelmintic drugs can actually cause adverse reactions. Reception may be accompanied by abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, weakness and other side effects. That is why the World Health Organization recommends prescribing these drugs only after the diagnosis is established, when the need for them is obvious. There is no alternative to synthetic anthelmintic drugs - only they can cure the disease with almost 100% probability. Therefore, if the doctor prescribed an anthelmintic drug, you need to take it. I will add that the funds of this group for most invasions (ascariasis, enterobiasis) are prescribed in low doses, so they are usually well tolerated, and the benefits of taking them many times exceed the risk of side effects. The main thing is to follow the recommendations of the doctor.

Sources

  1. intestinal worms. strategy. URL: http://www.who.int/intestinal_worms/strategy/en/ (Accessed 11/20/2018).
  2. Instructions for use of the medical preparation piperazine adipinate.
  3. Korneva V.V., etc. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the enterosorbent atoxyl in the complex treatment of ascariasis in children // Modern. Pediatrics, 2011. V. 3. No. 37. S. 1–4.
  4. Helminthiases in children // Journal "Child's Health", 2006. T. 2. P. 2.
  5. Yulish E. I. Clinic, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of helminthiases in children // News of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2011. No. 11–12. pp. 371–372.
  6. Nelson textbook of pediatrics. Edition 20 / Robert M. Kliegman et al. - Elsevier, 2016. - 3888 p.
  7. Legesse M., Erko B., Medhin G. Efficacy of alebendazole and mebendazole in the treatment of Ascaris and Trichuris infections //Ethiopian medical journal. 2002; 40(4): 335–343.