[conspire] (forw) Not quite getting it

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Texx (texxgadget at gmail.com):

> Interesting article.
> I heard the new name after my post.
> I see that the WHO is still using the name Covid19 name.

Not exactly.

WHO are being buttheads on account of institutional politics, but they
are not committing actual error, mostly.  Their materials refer to the
virus as either 'the virus responsible for COVID-19' or as 'COVID-19
virus':  The latter is intended (giving them the benefit of the doubt)
to signify 'the coronavirus that causes the disease called COVID-19',
_not_ 'the virus named COVID-19'.

They are continuing to use this circumlocution even after International
Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses officiallly named the virus
'SARS-CoV-2' on March 2nd.  Why?  Buttheadedness, apparently -- some
sort of backbiting or Not Invented [i.e., named] Here syndrome.

They sometimes justify this with lame excuses like 'using the name SARS
can have unintended consequences in terms of creating unnecessary fear
for some populations, especially in Asia which was worst affected by the
SARS outbreak in 2003', which is what it says on the WHO Web site.

Translation:  'We're being buttheads.'


> Perhaps I should use both.

No, you should not.