My grandson asked "What are Cooties?"?

Answer 1

You will have to explain to him that cooties are a rare but prevalent form of viral life that apparently lives on grade-school girls. It is imperative that the grade-school age boy keep away from the girls at any cost because if they should be touched by one, the cooties will migrate and take up residence on the guy. After that you need a cootie-ectomy to remove them.

FP

Answer 2

about 40 some odd years ago they were a toy akin to mr. potato head.

in elementary school many a boy have accused many a girl of having the disease known as cooties. symptoms of having cooties may include but are not limited to playing with dolls, wearing make-up, playing dress up, taking a bath every day without having to be told 15 times, having an urge to kiss little boys, fear of playing football because of getting hurt, getting better grades in school than a boy, etc. in short most little girls are guilty of having cooties simply by being little girls.

Tom boys are usually immune to the disease and are able to lead a "normal" life.

Little boys can avoid getting cooties in many ways. Top of the list is to never, ever let a little girl kiss you. If you do, the next thing you know you will being getting married and sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g and then the little boy will be pushing a baby carriage.

Alas only a very select few boys actually make it to manhood without contracting some degree of girl cooties. :-}

Answer 3

Cooties is a slang word referring to a fictional disease. The English equivalent is the "lurgy." North American children believe cooties to be a highly contagious disease or condition, generally along gender lines; as in "David Thomas O'Connor, stay away from Jenny Tingle or you might get cooties!"

Originally, the term implied body lice, but over time this became generalized to any sort of lice, including head lice. The term then evolved into a purely imaginary stand-in for just about anything that is considered repulsive. Although the origin is not explicitly known, it has been spectulated that the imaginary disease was conceived in referring to how cooties (meaning body lice) can be spread through physical contact with the infested body region. This theory could explain how children developed the idea that cooties can only be spread to the opposite sex. Cooties started out as something the girls had, but was quickly associated with boys too. Cootie can also be used as a verb, as in "Don't touch that book! It was cootied by a girl!"

In some areas, boys are thought to be immune from catching cooties from another boy, and likewise for girls: so as a result cooties can only be spread by contact between the sexes. However, once infected with the cooties of the opposite sex, those cooties can be spread to members of the same sex. Ex. Ian catches "girl cooties" from Ji Min, so Tom should avoid Ian lest he catch Ian's "girl cooties."

Answer 4

It's kind of like kids saying eww germs that's what they say when referring to cooties. Which from what others have said it's body lice since children are the most frequent spreaders of lice especially when one child is infected with it.

Answer 5

Actually, Cutties are Bad! In the Boys eye, you dont want Cutties. They make you Sick! They come from Girls! Cutties are to keep boys and girls apart from making babies in there formative years. A boy of 12 years can impregnate a girl same! Plus, a thought of the Louses and vermin akin to germs and such are from pre WWI. They where devistating. Cutties where inspired from them. In THOUGHT! Cutties is a way of communicting to our siblings a vile threat, and to other adults a password/causeword to keep our young inspiring boys from touching our innocent young girls and keeping our girls whole and pure. I AM a Parent. Cutties are kewl. For the parents...later...to the children that remember this functional happy term...Awsesome!!! Lots of Love to them that hear this...a father af two beautiful boys...one State trooper, other USNavy...quess where the Cutties term payed off...?! They are both established, and have girls....!

Answer 6

how cute.
a cootie is actually a parasitic louse that infests the body of people commonly known as BODY LICE
but the slang term usually is used by kids to refer to a fictional disease the opposite sex has

Answer 7

A cootie is like a disease or something yucky which you can catch by touch. IMAGINARY

Answer 8

What Are Cooties

Answer 9

cooties are some imaginary disease that the opposite sex has that makes them gross.

a remedy for catching the cooties would be the cootie shot:

circle, circle, dot, dot, now you've got the cootie shot.
circle, circle, square, square, now you've got it everywhere.

Answer 10

Girl germs!