[Ads-l] origin of the term "coronavirus"

Chris Waigl chris at LASCRIBE.NET
Mon Mar 16 23:29:41 UTC 2020


On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 3:20 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I don't hear "Nobody wants to get the coronavirus."
>
> What I hear is "Nobody wants to get coronavirus."
>
> The "19" in Corona Virus Disease 19" simply means "2019."
>
> I first heard of coronaviruses ten or twenty years ago (or more) as the
> family responsible for the common cold.
>
>
What relevance do you attach to the presence or not of the definite article?

Where I sit, the usage an/arthrous use seems to be pretty indiscriminate,
jumping around even within the same text:

===
People are more likely to get the coronavirus by picking it up from a
surface and touching their face than they are to breathe in droplets
directly from someone who is infected, said William Sawyer, a family doctor
in Sharonville, Ohio.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/26/how-to-prepare-for-coronavirus/
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/02/26/how-to-prepare-for-coronavirus/?arc404=true>
===
You’re Likely to Get the Coronavirus
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/02/covid-vaccine/607000/
===

Etc.




Chris Waigl . chris.waigl at gmail.com . chris at lascribe.net
http://eggcorns.lascribe.net . http://chryss.eu

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