We all know that cooties aren’t real. (Besides, we’ve all been vaccinated sufficiently as kids, so we’re safe.) But if they were real, what disease would cooties be? Well, let’s look at the ...

"Cooties" refers to a highly infectious disease. The word "cootie" derives from the Tagalog word "kutu," or "parasitic biting insect." The related word "kudis" translates to "playground death." The ...

Of all the germs kids are exposed to on the playground, there’s one they freak out about more than any other: cooties. The word first appeared during World War I as soldiers’ slang for the painful ...

It’s official: women really do have cooties. I know that we all laughed about it when we were younger, but it turns out that cooties are no laughing matter and it was actually true. What other reason ...