Originally Posted by ngdawg

Flu is more dramatic...whereas a cold comes along and casually sticks around, the flu hits you like a speeding train, knocks you on your ass and won't loosen its grip. Both can give a fever, but the flu fever is usually higher with chills, sweats, etc. When you have the flu, there's no mistaking it.
Colds, you might get bronchitis-flu, you might get pneumonia.
I've heard you can get a 'mild' flu-like illness after getting that shot. I'm supposed to get those and pneumonia shots, but I'm leery of them.
In between the cold virus and flu virus is another, but I can't remember its name. It hits harder than a cold, but isn't as dangerous as the flu.