[Ads-l] “generic descriptive terms”
Joel Berson
berson at ATT.NET
Fri May 8 16:20:04 UTC 2015
I think human children and their parents in this part of the country would be quite pleased about losing eastern equine encephalitis.
Joel
From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Sent: Friday, May 8, 2015 11:54 AM
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] “generic descriptive terms”
That's too bad. I've always felt a little frisson of pride upon hearing a
mention of "St. Louis encephalitis" or of "Texas fever" on, e.g. Mystery
Diagnosis, especially since "Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome" is
referred to as simply "MERS."
I wonder how horses in this part of the country are going to feel about
losing "eastern equine encephalitis"?
On Fri, May 8, 2015 at 10:34 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: =?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=9Cgeneric_descriptive_terms=E2=80=9D?=
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/05/08/who-don-t-name-diseases-afte=
> r-animals.html
>
> Complete item:
> Don=E2=80=99t call it Spanish flu. The World Health Organization issued
> gui=
> delines
> Friday that caution against naming diseases after places, people, or
> animals, for fear that such names will bring stigma. Citing Middle Eastern
> Respiratory Syndrome and swine flu as examples, the agency recommended that
> names be =E2=80=9Cgeneric descriptive terms=E2=80=9D instead.
>
> DanG
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list