[Ads-l] Patient Zero metaphorical extension

[Geoffrey Steven Nathan]

Headline on IT security listserv I subscribe to (part of my 'other day job'): 

Stuxnet 'Patient Zero' Attack Targets Revealed 

(for those who are unaware of Stuxnet, it was a nasty computer virus, probably created by the US Government, perhaps with the assistance of the Israelis, which was used to attack and damage Iran's nuclear research facility). 

Geoffrey S. Nathan 
Faculty Liaison, C&IT 
and Professor, Linguistics Program 
http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/ 
+1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT) 

Nobody at Wayne State will EVER ask you for your password. Never send it to anyone in an email, no matter how authentic the email looks. 

----- Original Message -----

> From: "W Brewer" <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2014 10:23:16 AM
> Subject: Re: patient zero

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: patient zero
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Subject: patient zero
> DG: <Is it just me, or does the concept of "patient zero" make little
> sense>
> WB: Blame it on the Arabs for inventing zero. Chinese babies are one
> year old at birth, not zero, as was Jesus, whence pedantic quibbles
> over definition of decade (2000 to 2009 (me), or 2001 to 2010
> (quibblers)?).

> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org