English for parents – vomit

My little pumpkin friend here is not very well. He is vomiting, throwing up, chundering, being sick, puking, spewing, barfing. Poor thing.

Today is not about Halloween but about vomit.  Children usually say I feel sick, or I feel like I’m going to be sick. Or, I’m going to throw up. Too late, I threw up.

Crude or impolite words are spew, barf, chunder, hurl and puke. Neutral words are vomit, throw up or be sick.

If you’re very ill and can’t eat without vomiting you can say ‘I can’t keep anything down.’ or ‘I’m bringing everything up.’

If you feel like being sick, but aren’t throwing up you can say, ‘I feel nauseous’, or ‘I feel sick’, or ‘I feel like being sick, I feel like throwing up.’

Retching, heaving or gagging is when someone acts and sounds like they are being sick, but nothing comes out.

During pregnancy women sometimes get morning sickness, even if it lasts all day it’s still called morning sickness.

Some people suffer with travel sickness, when they travel by car, plane or train and they feel ill because of the movement. It’s also called car sick/ train sick or plane sick. When you travel by boat it’s called seasick. You can say I am travel sick, or I get travel sick.