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

[Chris Waigl]

OK, this is going to sound like a nit-picking quibble, but here it goes:

On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 9:48 AM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:

> As it's the only coronavirus known to the vast majority of (especially
> non-technical) speakers,


I presume many non-technical speakers have heard of SARS, possibly of MERS,
and they likely know that the common cold is caused by a variety of
viruses. But they may not know that the viruses that cause SARS and MERS,
and four of the ones that cause the common cold, are coronaviruses.

When I read this, I was reminded of people who tell me that I'm the only
lesbian / gay person / LGBT person they know. I usually tell them that they
likely know a lot more who aren't out to them.
Not that I mean that we shouldn't say something like "For most people,
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is the only coronavirus they
know." (Not that they're likely to know the name SARS-CoV-2 either...)

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

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