Is it "kooties" or "cooties" and what does the noun really mean?

[Danny D.]

In a.h.r, we figured out that the "brown" stains in toilet bowls
was actually "cooties/kooties" ensconced in lime deposits, such
that only strong acids could make them go away (bleach simply
turns them white).

However, the thought occurred to me that I don't have a clue
what "kooties/cooties" are, in the (Am) English language.

Any background?

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

If the following definition applies you have a bigger problem than
stains in toilet bowls!

http://www.yourdictionary.com/cootie

Slang a louse

Origin: Brit WWI army slang, earlier a seaman's term < Malay kutu,
dog tick

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright


Slang
A body louse.

Origin: Probably from Malay kutu

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th
edition

However:

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cootie

cootie (plural cooties)

1. (rare) A nest-building female American Coot (counterpart to
Cooter).
2. (North America, colloquial) A louse.
3. (North America, colloquial, childish, usually plural) Any germ or
contaminant, real or imagined, especially from the opposite
gender (for pre-pubescent children).

"I’m not drinking from his glass until I wash the cooties off
it."

Number 3 seems the most likely, with a "cootie" in a toilet bowl just
being a small lump of something.

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

[THE COLONEL]

"Danny D." <da...@dontemailthis.com> wrote in message
news:klkqim$ln4$3...@speranza.aioe.org...

Google it, rubber lips.

[John Varela]

WIWAL in the 1940s we boys knew the word "cooties" to mean biting
insects and that the word came out of the WWI trenches. Since we
didn't have experience of lice I thought they were some kind of
flea.

--
John Varela