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Wed 7 Apr, 2004 10:58 am
Context:
I'm 25 female. For the last 3 years I daily have phlem in my throat or the feeling that I do. I'm always hocking it up. It is sometimes clear and foamy or yellow and thick. There is no coughing involved. It is irritating to me and others. What could this be? and what is the cure?
Thank you for your time.
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PS. What does "hock up" mean?
phlegm
(With the "g", you can look it up.)
"hock up" is what you do when you clear your throat, if there is phlegm in your throat. (It's specific to bringing something up.) It's also what you do before you spit.
:-?
Re: What is phlem?
oristarA wrote:Context:
I'm 25 female. For the last 3 years I daily have phlem in my throat or the feeling that I do. I'm always hocking it up. It is sometimes clear and foamy or yellow and thick. There is no coughing involved. It is irritating to me and others. What could this be? and what is the cure?
Thank you for your time.
******************
PS. What does "hock up" mean?
Phlem is excess saliva with at times, mucous in it.
"Hock up"...does that mean expectorate? Cough it up.
First off, the correct spelling is "phlegm". Here are several definitions, and the second one would be the definitiion you want for the example given. To 'hock up' is slang for 'cough up, expectorate'.
PHLEGM
1. [n] inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy
2. [n] expectorated matter; saliva mixed with discharges from the respiratory passages; in ancient and medieval physiology it was believed to cause sluggishness
3. [n] apathy demonstrated by an absence of emotional reactions
Okay, my dear poor dictionaries could not tell all of these.
Phlem was just a question about spelling, but indeed I could not find out any definition in the dics that makes "hock up" fit the thing of coughing up phlegm.
Thank you all.
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