Roy Tang

Sipunin, from the root word “sipon”, referring to the common cold. It refers to someone who is susceptible to and often has the common cold.

Certainly applicable to me. For as long as I can remember I’ve always had the cold all the time, especially during the earlier and later months of the year. (I’m sure selective memory lets me forget all those days that my nose was actually not clogged…)

I remember reading when I was young that the common cold, more specifically the rhinovirus, tended to mutate rapidly, which was why our body was unable to develop any permanent immunity to it. So every time I would get a cold again, it would be a new mutation. At some point I wondered how many of all possible mutations I had already acquired, given that I kept getting the cold so often.

I don’t think there’s a lesson to be learned here. Except maybe that I should ask my doctor if there’s anything I can do. Luckily, not all posts have to be profound.