The word sicko"?

[Bridget]

Looking in Google, I see the word "sicko" gives almost 2.7 million hits, but are they all for Moore's new film? I mean, is that word used for other things?

[Pete]

Looking in Google, I see the word "sicko" gives almost 2.7 million hits, but are they all for Moore's new film? I mean, is that word used for other things?
Certainly many of Google's hits on "sicko" are for the new film by Moore, but not all of them are. For instance, some refer to a rock group that seems to have been named "Sicko". I've heard "sicko" used occasionally for years.

The dictionary search at:
> http://www.onelook.com/
gives a number of hits; it is termed very informal or slang, generally means "insane" or "psychotic", and is said to derive from the root word "sick". It is often used as a noun: "He is a real sicko!" My guess is that it takes its form by analogy with "psycho", itself a slang term for "psychotic".

The title of the movie is a play on words-- the root word "sick" combines with the meaning "insane" to make people who know what the movie is about understand that Moore considers our health-care system, the way we care for those who are sick, to be insane.

[Bridget]

<The title of the movie is a play on words-- the root word "sick" combines with the meaning "insane" to make people who know what the movie is about understand that Moore considers our health-care system, the way we care for those who are sick, to be insane.>

Yes, I've heard many nonnative speakers pronounce "psycho" as "sicko". BTW, is your health-care system insane?

[Getalife]

I am unfamiliar with 'Moore's new film' however the term Sicko is infrequently used in the same way as 'Sick Note' ie) Describing an employee who habitually takes paid leave from his work, for minor ailments, leaving his colleagues to take on the consequential extra work.

[Bridget]

I am unfamiliar with 'Moore's new film' however the term Sicko is infrequently used in the same way as 'Sick Note' ie) Describing an employee who habitually takes paid leave from his work, for minor ailments, leaving his colleagues to take on the consequential extra work.

I see. A very different use to the ones above.