diplomatic flu
- noun
- /ˌdɪpləˈmætɪk flu/
- Informal
:
gripe diplomática
- After the summit, I felt like I had a case of diplomatic flu.
Examples
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After a week of international talks, several delegates claimed to have diplomatic flu.
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She used diplomatic flu as an excuse to skip the press conference following the tense negotiations.
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Sometimes leaders blame diplomatic flu to avoid awkward diplomatic engagements.
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I think I caught diplomatic flu after that marathon meeting!
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After a week of international talks, several delegates claimed to have diplomatic flu.
-
She used diplomatic flu as an excuse to skip the press conference following the tense negotiations.
-
I think I caught diplomatic flu after that marathon meeting!
How Exhausted
Surface Forms
Morphology
diplomatic + flu
Because 'diplomatic' clearly relates to diplomacy and 'flu' is commonly understood as an illness, a B1 learner can plausibly infer a humorous, illness-like condition associated with diplomatic activity (e.g., exhaustion from meetings). However, the sense is a figurative/metaphorical extension (stress or fatigue rather than literal influenza), so the precise nuance requires recognizing the joke and may not be fully predictable without exposure.
Etymology
Diplomatic flu is a joking name that pictures diplomats 'catching' the flu after long meetings, feeling tired and weak like when you have the flu. So people use diplomatic flu to mean 'exhaustion' from talks or as an excuse to skip a diplomatic event.