⇨ dreaded lurgi; the lurgi; the lergy; lergnoun any malaise or minor ailment. The 'dreaded' variation is a direct quotation from The Goon Show, which was originally broadcast on BBC radio in 1951. So much in the world of the Goons was 'dreaded'. The 'lurgi' found a currency among school-children where it was further applied to notional illnesses and any vaguely unpleasant or unclean disease that another could be accused of carrying UK, 1954