Typhoid Mary
1
8.2
- noun
- /ˈtaɪfɔɪd ˈmɛri/
- Offensive
:
[OFENSIVO] apodo para alguien que contagia enfermedades
- The phrase Typhoid Mary is often used to label someone who causes problems unintentionally.
Examples
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Typhoid Mary, for instance, spent decades in quarantine on the East River to protect the rest of us from infection.
Academic text (2003) -
She tracked her down not once, but twice, the second time after Typhoid Mary escaped from quarantine.
-
A careless cook can be like Typhoid Mary, unknowingly spreading illness to those around her.
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In discussions about public health, someone might mention Typhoid Mary as a classic example of an asymptomatic carrier.
Surface Forms
Morphology
typhoid + Mary
This is an eponymic nickname (from Mary Mallon) used idiomatically to label someone who spreads disease or trouble; that figurative, culture-specific sense is not predictable from 'typhoid' (a disease) and 'Mary' (a personal name). A B1 learner who only knows the constituent words would likely interpret it literally (a woman called Mary with typhoid) and would not reliably infer the idiomatic meaning without cultural/historical knowledge.
Etymology
Typhoid Mary comes from Mary Mallon, a cook in early 1900s America who carried the typhoid germ without feeling sick and infected many people she worked for. Because she seemed healthy but still passed on the illness, people began to call anyone who unknowingly 'spreads disease or trouble' a Typhoid Mary.