Ill, not Sick

Today I was very ill with a U.T.I. (if you don’t know what this is be very glad). I walked to work, started teaching and, whammo, was in trouble. Luckily my friends–you saved me, thank you–drove me home and picked up antibiotics for me, which are available over the counter here.
I am ill, not sick, because “sick” sounds like the f-word (see Gram, I didn’t say it) in Turkish. Ill sounds so polite, and I really feel sick rather than ill.
It is really hard to be a woman sometimes.