I'm sure there's a word for the irritation/tickle in your throat that precedes a cough. The guys on AWADtalk couldn't find it though. Might begin with 'p'.
Gosh, anycon, as a member of the health profession, I haven't heard of it before. I went to the Web and found a lot of Google sites about "tickles in throats," but no scientific name.
It is an interesting question to me because just the other day my husband asked me if there were a scientific word for "tickle," and I hadn't searched for that yet. So far the closest I could find was titillate.
I tried the brute power method: a computer-search through OED reveals 282 definintion containing the word "throat". But none seems relevant, at least according to the search-summaries. I'll try to send you the entire list by PM, and perhaps something there will ring a bell.
Good thoughts, Tinman, but I don't think they are what anycon means. A "frog" in the throat more refers to a "hoarseness." And "phegm" may be the cause of the tickle, but it isn't a description of that tickling feeling before a cough.
Hmm. I'm beginning to think I made this word up! Sure I saw it browsing one of those obscure word sites once. You must understand it isn't necessarily a medical term--probably more like an one-off inkhorn term.
I can't really think of one at all. The best we've come up with (my ever-expanding 'detention' group) is a 'prickly' cough but it's honestly not a term I've come across before. I think that Cat's definition is closest for me. I would expand on this point but as I'm surrounded by children I'd better not!!
