What do you call the virus?

[happi duck]

I've noticed that people refer to the virus/disease in many ways.  What do you say?  

I'll start.  We say "covid".  "My niece had covid in the spring." "He had to have a covid test." Etc.

 

Edited December 29, 2020 by happi duck

[Starr]

We usually go with covid as well.

[MercyA]

We also say "covid." 

Many people I know (before this month, anyway) tried to avoid calling it anything. They would say, "he tested positive" without naming the virus. So odd.

At least one older man in my congregation who had it calls it "the covid."

[maize]

We say covid or sometimes coronavirus.

I see people use "the 'Rona" a lot.

Our grocery store in their loudspeaker announcements about masking just calls it "the virus" as in "to stop the spread of the virus..." maybe they thought giving it a name would make people feel more stressed?

Edited December 29, 2020 by maize

[popmom]

We say "COVID", too.

[happi duck]

16 minutes ago, kand said:

Same. I don’t see “The ‘Rona” a ton, but I hear it occasionally and for some reason it’s nails on a chalkboard to me. I’m trying to figure out why, and all I can come up with is because it seems to make a joke out of some thing that’s really not funny? Like having a flip, joke name for leukemia or something.

I have the same reaction

[Drama Llama]

I call the disease covid.  Like I would say that someone has covid, or is being tested for covid, or died from covid.

I would call the virus coronavirus, or just "the virus".  Like I would say that someone had antibodies to the coronavirus, or that the virus can or can't live on a surface, or that the vaccine causes people to develop antibodies to the spike protein on the outside of the virus.

[Nichola]

...

Edited January 21, 2021 by Rosemary

[Shoeless]

30 minutes ago, kand said:

Same. I don’t see “The ‘Rona” a ton, but I hear it occasionally and for some reason it’s nails on a chalkboard to me. I’m trying to figure out why, and all I can come up with is because it seems to make a joke out of some thing that’s really not funny? Like having a flip, joke name for leukemia or something.

I have that reaction, too. The people that call it that are definitely jokey about it. Like "Ha ha, I can't tell whether I'm hung over or have The 'Rona!". 😠 

[Farrar]

It's dark, but we do that. We say, "the covid" and "the rona" and so forth a good bit. I mean, if we were all facing potential cancer or grappling with a terrible injury, we'd also joke about that. In the context of someone I know having it or looking at the depressing numbers of cases and deaths, I just say covid or coronavirus, depending on the appropriate context. But at other times, like, especially if we're referring to testing or precautions, we totally say the jokey terms. Or even "the plague." But we're a dark humor bunch here.

[wathe]

We call it covid.  I have heard it referred to as "the covid", but very occasionally.  Parallel to how people say "the flu", I think.

Interesting obscure article on "Definite Article Diseases and Medical Conditions".  Summary: names of diseases do not generally take definite articles.  Exceptions listed include the flu, the measles, the mumps and , weirdly, "the creeps".

Edited December 29, 2020 by wathe

[Jean in Newcastle]

I call it Covid 19.  Covid for short. 

[klmama]

Covid or covid19, usually. Occasionally, coronavirus. I've heard The Rona and The Plague a lot from younger adults. 

[Drama Llama]

22 minutes ago, wathe said:

We call it covid.  I have heard it referred to as "the covid", but very occasionally.  Parallel to how people say "the flu", I think.

Interesting obscure article on "Definite Article Diseases and Medical Conditions".  Summary: names of diseases do not generally take definite articles.  Exceptions listed include the flu, the measles, the mumps and , weirdly, "the creeps".

The creeps is a name of a disease?

[mathnerd]

If you are particular, there are two terms, the virus itself is called Coronavirus (or Novel Sars-Cov2). The disease this virus causes is called Covid (Corona Virus Disease of 2019: Covid-19). So, I use those two terms to refer to them.

I am another person who can not stand "The Rona" at all.

Edited December 29, 2020 by mathnerd

[Hannah]

We call it Covid, as in "you can get Covid".  I've not heard 'the Rona' locally and find it rather off-putting that people joke about a potentially deadly disease.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Hannah

[Jean in Newcastle]

The only people I know who use "the Rona" locally are people who downplay it.  This influences my reaction to hearing the term.  (Ie. it's not positive.)

[wathe]

49 minutes ago, BaseballandHockey said:

The creeps is a name of a disease?

Nope.   The example they give is "Walking through cemeteries gives me the creeps".  Not a disease or medical condition at all.  Which is why it's weird for it to be included in their list.  A bit of a stretch  to include slang terms for psychological states in a list of medical conditions, I'd say.

ETA - it's a grammar website, not a medical one (clearly) 🙂

 

 

Edited December 29, 2020 by wathe

[wathe]

Measles, mumps, and flu are all viruses transmitted via respiratory droplets (+/- aerosols), so maybe "the covid" isn't so wrong....

[easypeasy]

Covid.

  Unless we're feeling spicy. Then we have a plethora of other names for it. 😁

The kids' friends (those who take it seriously and those who do not) call it the 'rona.

[Laura Corin]

1 hour ago, wathe said:

We call it covid.  I have heard it referred to as "the covid", but very occasionally.  Parallel to how people say "the flu", I think.

Interesting obscure article on "Definite Article Diseases and Medical Conditions".  Summary: names of diseases do not generally take definite articles.  Exceptions listed include the flu, the measles, the mumps and , weirdly, "the creeps".

The list is even shorter in the UK. I've heard 'the flu' occasionally,  but measles and mumps don't take a 'the'. 'The creeps' does though.

I call it COVID. 

[Ausmumof3]

Covid mostly.  Occasionally the rona, only with DH.  It’s not that we don’t seriously think it’s a big deal as anyone whose been here for a while knows.  It’s more in the Harry Potter sense of a bogart - if you can figure out how to laugh at your fears you can face your fears.  Occasionally coronavirus but I prefer not to because it’s not specific enough and leads to confusion.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Ausmumof3

[Pawz4me]

6 hours ago, Rosemary said:

I say COVID as well, but I’ve been hearing more people, particularly older men, say “the COVID.” Maybe it’s regional? 

I thought it was a wee bit weird the first few times I heard it, but then like @watheposted, I realized people in the U.S. almost always say "the flu." And then I was mostly okay with it.

About 90 percent of the time we say Covid. The other ten percent is fairy equally split between coronavirus and the virus.

[RootAnn]

I don't use an article in front of measles or mumps but do in front of the flu. We call it Covid-19, usually.

[Carrie12345]

COVID, for the most part. When we’re being flippant, joking around, trying to make light of things, it’s sometimes The ‘Rona or The COVID (like The Facebook or The Internets.)

[alisoncooks]

I'll say "the 'rona" when I'm just with my family and only when it's not about anything serious. Everything else, covid. Sometimes I may say "coronavirus."

[Elizabeth86]

I usually say coronavirus around real people, but here at home we call it Crona Birus because that's how dd pronounces it. It's actually made it's way into her pretend play. Yesterday a stuffed penguin has flapping around my house coughing and "spreading Crona Birus all over everything."

Edited December 29, 2020 by Elizabeth86

[historically accurate]

Normally, we say covid. Also, the virus or coronavirus. We do use the 'Rona with each other in the family (I have teens). For example, when someone coughs, they will take 2 steps back and say, "You got the 'Rona?" Occasionally, they say, "Plague! Plague! Quarantine!" in a movie-style old crone voice.

"Crona Birus" is adorable, @Elizabeth86!

Edited December 29, 2020 by historically accurate

[kristin0713]

Covid.

I knew a girl in high school named Rona (not sure if it was a nickname) so that rubs me the wrong way. 

[Amira]

The common term in the country I live in is corona, so that’s what I’m used to and usually what I use in writing. If I’m talking to Americans living in the US, I say covid since that seems to be the most common term there. But this whole thing is “corona” in my mind.  

[PaulainTx]

We call it Covid.

[Pam in CT]

When I'm speaking seriously, to folks outside the intimate family circle: "COVID" or less often "coronavirus."

When I'm speaking metaphorically, to folks I know in real life (usually within my synagogue/ faith circle, with whom it specifically, instantly and reliably evokes the Exodus story which has a particular resonance as a collectively endured shared experience): "this plague."

 

I associate "China virus" with intentional xenophobic blamecasting, and I associate "the rona" with far-right eye-rolling contempt of masks and other public health measures. Significant negative associations for me with both terms (which I only encounter on line; I don't believe I've every heard either IRL though to be fair I'm not getting out much, LOL).

[elegantlion]

I use Covid. 

[Spryte]

Covid.  Once in a while, if only talking about the virus, I’ll say coronavirus.

Until now, I’ve only read “the Rona” online, from people who consume right-leaning media, and who consistently downplay Covid.  I’d imagined that “the Rona” was coined by some particular right wing figure, maybe a host on a show, but didn’t give it much more thought than that.  It seems dismissive, in the context in which I’ve heard it. I’d thought of it as an extension of the immature name calling and demeaning puns that get passed around in some circles, but now I’m rethinking that since it sounds like some posters here use it, who don’t downplay it.  Very interesting!  

With friends, we have all sorts of colorful names for it.

[MEmama]

1 hour ago, Pam in CT said:

I associate "China virus" with intentional xenophobic blamecasting, and I associate "the rona" with far-right eye-rolling contempt of masks and other public health measures. Significant negative associations for me with both terms (which I only encounter on line; I don't believe I've every heard either IRL though to be fair I'm not getting out much, LOL).

Same. I’ve never heard either spoken irl, but both are used online (in this space specifically, since this is the only social media I use) intentionally for those purposes. They are ugly terms and say much about the people using them publicly (not in private or as dark humor—we all need those outlets for sure).

[catz]

Oh I've heard "the rona" used tongue in cheek in other contexts.  Unless it's downplaying the virus, it doesn't really bother me.  But we're a snarky/dark humor kind of family.  And we've been home for 9 months, pro mask, can't wait for vaccines, etc. 

"Hey dude, take a mask when you leave and don't go spreading the rona about!"

vs. 

"The rona is fake news and big pharma is trying to control us".  

Racial reference to this virus is MUCH more bothersome to me to be honest.  But I don't have patience at this point for people who aren't doing their best to minimize spread.  Especially those in leadership positions.

  I use covid the vast majority of the time.  

[Not_a_Number]

We say COVID. Sometimes coronavirus or COVID-19, sometimes “the virus.”

[ieta_cassiopeia]

I say "COVID", "coronavirus" and occasionally "the dreaded lurgy" (since it is a subset of Diseases I Do Not Want To Have). I've seen "Rona" on some websites that filter or block direct mentions of COVID, coronavirus and virus.

 

If someone says "Chinese virus" to me, I assume they mean "sinophobia" (possibly involving the speaker's inadvertently self-diagnosis) rather than an actual virus.

Edited December 29, 2020 by ieta_cassiopeia

[Lady Florida.]

We say covid. Early on we were saying coronavirus and somewhere along the line we switched though, it happened organically. We know that it's technically Covid-19 but everyone knows what it means when we just say covid. Sometimes we just call it the virus. 

Edited December 29, 2020 by Lady Florida.

[athena1277]

I usually say Covid, but I enjoy saying “the rona” sometimes because it drives my teens crazy. 😁

Edited December 29, 2020 by athena1277

[annandatje]

We refer to it as "covid19."

[J-rap]

Covid.  I notice my kids (only when talking to each other) will often say Rona.  We all take it very seriously.

[SquirrellyMama]

12 hours ago, MissLemon said:

I have that reaction, too. The people that call it that are definitely jokey about it. Like "Ha ha, I can't tell whether I'm hung over or have The 'Rona!". 😠 

We say Covid and The Rona. We are super careful and take it seriously, but sometimes we do need to lighten the mood. We generally just say it within the family. 

Kelly

[Ali in OR]

I say Covid. The only person I've heard say "the rona" is my college kid, so I assume that's what her friend group uses. That would definitely be a generational thing rather than a a right-wing, head-in-the-sand thing as these kids are as far away from that as possible!

[math teacher]

We either say covid, the virus, or just tested positive.

Mil calls it this covid mess.

[rebcoola]

I usually use covid.  Sometimes Rona especially with the kids.  We all take it seriously but we do love the Holderness family videos.

[happi duck]

24 minutes ago, Kinsa said:

Sorry to disappoint, but we refer to it in this house as "the rona".  This is what my young adult kids call it, and it just stuck with everyone.

Nothing's disappointing, lot's have people have shared that they say " the rona". 

Several of us shared that the phrase grated on us but honestly hearing that it's used by people I "know" in a non-snarky way makes it less grating to me.  (I still won't like it when used in a snarky dismissive way but I wouldn't like any dismissive snark using any other vocabulary either.)

[EKS]

Either "covid" or "the coronavirus." 

 

[AmandaVT]

Covid, typically. At school I hear "the rona" a lot. I'm on the morning health screening team at school and we do end up joking about it (not in front of kids) and will call it "the covids". OK, there's one kid we joke with - she likes to let us know that she jet setted off to multiple parties every night in hopes of bringing us the covids the next day. Lovely child, dark sense of humor that we all appreciate. We may have nicknamed her the "Covid Queen" and she has embraced it. Honestly, sometimes when I'm anxious about something, humor helps. 

[Kanin]

14 hours ago, BaseballandHockey said:

The creeps is a name of a disease?

Now that sounds like a disease I definitely don't want!