Misuse-itis: The Truth Behind the -Itis Suffix

Thinking of using the suffix "-itis" to joke about something someone is plagued with or addicted to? ("Boy, he sure loves cartoons. He has cartoonitis!" "Ugh, look at that huge pile of dishes. I feel a case of procrastinationitis coming on....") You might want to look up a list of medical suffixes first and pick a more appropriate term.

The "-itis" suffix means that something is characterized by inflammation (e.g., bronchitis, tendinitis). So cartoonitis is more likely to mean an inflammation of cartoons rather than an addiction to it.

A more appropriate suffix would be "-philia", which means an obsessive love of something. Bibliophilia, for example, is an actual-factual term for "love of books". :) And logophilia? That's a love of words!