Ill or sick

[Rachel Adams]

Is it wrong to say "I was ill" to talk about a cold or another ilness that wasn't serious? Can I use both "sick" and "ill" in such context: "I was sick/ill and I had a fever"?

 

[emsr2d2]

When I was growing up in the UK, we used only "I am/was ill". I would say that it's been in the last 25 years or so that "I am/was sick" has entered the UK's main vocabulary. I still associate it with having AmE origins.

When I was a child, if someone said "I've been sick", it meant "I have [just] vomited". These days, it would simply be taken to mean "I've been ill/unwell".

 

[5jj]

If I'd had simply a cold, I would not say that I'd been ill/sick. I simply say that I'd had a cold.

 

[emsr2d2]

I agree. I think people have become much more vague about what's wrong with them. Whether that's due to embarrassment or simple privacy concerns, I don't know. It seems to me that, these days, asking "How are you?" is more likely to be met with "I'm ill/sick" than with "I've got a cold/got flu/got a migraine" (other ailments are available!)

 

[5jj]

The British have become a little less vague, in my opinion. In my youth, "How are you?" always had to be receive a brief, positive response, however you felt. If you were dying in agony, you were permitted to say "Not so bright today. Must be something I ate."

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

To my American ears, sick is the all-purpose word, good for anything from colds and hangovers to deadly diseases. Ill sounds old-fashioned (my father used it a lot), and it only describes serious conditions.

However, we do say mental illness and would never say mental sickness.

 

[probus]

In my youth, "How are you?" always had to receive a brief, positive response

Some people still maintain the stiff upper lip, even in our increasingly non-British Canada.

 

[GoesStation]

Some older people in my region (southern Ohio) still use sick for "nauseated". But I don't think they use ill for "unwell"; they're more likely to say "I don't feel well."

 

[Yankee]

Is it wrong to say "I was ill" to talk about a cold or another illness that wasn't serious? Can I use both "sick" and "ill" in such context: "I was sick/ill and I had a fever"?

Most common and informal in my area (NE/US) would be "I'm sick" for a common or temporary ailment, or "I'm not well" as a less frequent remark. But use of "ill" would not be unusual.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Remember, Rachel, that we're just talking about very general tendencies. As with a lot of English, there are no hard rules.