“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet
COVID-19, Corona Virus, COVID19, Coronavirus. As a new thing needs to be talked about for a moment what it is going to be called is in flux. I prefer Coronavirus but it sounds (more appropriate than looks) like COVID-19 is going to win the day.
When cell phones were young I liked the term hand phone which was popular in Singapore. It lost. Mobile phone and smart phone are still contenders. I suspect it will end up as phone. And if you have a wired phone it will be called a land phone.
My friend from Hong Kong entered this into the debate: Ebola was named after the Ebola river where it was discovered. Zika was named after Zika Forest where it was discovered. Lyme Disease was named after Lyme, Connecticut, where it was discovered. West Nile Virus was named after, you guessed it. COVID-19 was named by a committee afraid of offending a superpower.
Photo is of the rocks and stones (what is the difference) that I collected along the trails in three years of hiking in Arizona. I’m a catch and release rockhound so I’ll take most of them back to the trails. First I’m going to see if there is a henge in there somewhere.
I submit it should be called the “Wuhan-woo-hoo”
Which is why, Rachel, you are not Secretary of State.