I'm willing to bet that almost everybody reading this has at some point in their childhood teasingly accused someone of giving them 'cooties' — or has been on the other end, as the one being accused.
It's an old insult that dates back for a number of generations, but most of the kids using the term probably don't even know exactly what they're describing. For the record, most authorities feel that the term was first used to describe various bugs and parasites - especially lice - that World War I soldiers encountered in trenches. However, it didn't take long for it to become a catchall word for any kind of bad, transferable thing — and something for kids to use to tease each other.
The word's use became so popular among kids that a game was created in the late 1940's, one that featured creepy-looking plastic bugs. I remember having fun with it when I was a kid, and it must 
have been pretty popular because variations of that game are still around today. In fact, you could probably make a case that it was the forerunner of many of today's most popular games and toys — the kind that kids love because they're creepy and/or disgusting.
But even though I enjoyed the game as a kid, my favorite cootie is a musician - Charles 'Cootie' Williams - who was one of the best of the early big band trumpeters, and was known for his inventive use of the plunger mute. His improvisational skills and style of play still serve as an inspiration for modern artists like Wynton Marsalis.
Cootie Williams grew up in Alabama, and as he reached his teens the self-taught trumpeter began appearing in jazz groups in the Mobile area, at one point playing alongside future sax legend Lester Young in the Young Family Band. By the late 1920's he was old enough - barely - to move to New York as part of Alonzo Ross' Syncopators, and after a couple of other jobs, began a long and important association with Duke Ellington. Although the volatile Cootie could be a handful, Ellington loved him and 
kept him as a featured player for the next decade, even including songs such as "Tutti For Cootie" in the band's songbook.
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