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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Dm suggesting that the use is the words covid or corona virus is class based issue

193 replies

ShallallalAa · 18/05/2020 23:03

Dm on the phone -
People who like drama call it covid.

People who prefer to make minimal fuss and get on with things call it coronavirus.

Ie the middle classes are more likely to call it coronavirus.

She was bu of course wasnt she. Didn't know what to say

OP posts:
JacobReesMogadishu · 18/05/2020 23:49

I call it the plague. “I’m heading out into the plague zone, do you want anything from the shop”.

dontgobaconmyheart · 18/05/2020 23:50

What about people who just use the terms interchangeably and situationally Confused AKA - most people. She just sounds like she enjoys the sound of her own voice a bit OP, it's obviously total nonsense isn't it. Is she middle class and trying to prove it?

Lunawuna · 18/05/2020 23:52

DD (5yo) calls it “The Germs”.

Interested to know where people who call it “The Covid” fit in.

Yanbu your mother is being ridiculous.

SmileyClare · 18/05/2020 23:54

Actually thinking about it, I've called it All this shit quite a few times Depends on the situation..obviously at work or talking to dcs school I'll use more formal language.Grin

GlomOfNit · 18/05/2020 23:56

I call it coronavirus still, even though I know it's a disease CAUSED by just ONE coronavirus. I think I just like the rhythm of the word. And every single bloody time I say 'coronavirus' I get an unwelcome mental image of a bottle of 1970's pop. Grin

Actually I mostly call it The Lurgy, as if trapped in an episode of The Goon Show.

dellacucina · 18/05/2020 23:56

Based on my own personal psychology, I think your mum may be on to something. I feel like a twat saying COVID-19 for no real reason, and only do it in a work setting.

Gingerkittykat · 18/05/2020 23:56

That fucking virus.

I've heard someone calling it the beer bug.

SpillTheTeaa · 18/05/2020 23:57

We usually call it the virus. Does that make me scum of the earth?
Tell your mother to put a sock in it

DPotter · 18/05/2020 23:58

I keep calling it corvid (not a spelling mistake) or that pesky virus

idontlookoldenough · 19/05/2020 00:01

My boss keeps calling it CONVID19 on zoom, I have to try so so hard not to correct her like I would my five yo

Yankathebear · 19/05/2020 00:04

Covid for me.
I work in NHS, we have ‘covid plans’, ‘covid supplies’, ‘covid talks’ etc
DH works in ‘the arts’ and says corona.

I’m not sure that either of us are classy enough to belong to any class at all. We both belong in a smelly pile of damp laundry.

Yankathebear · 19/05/2020 00:06

I do have a colleague that calls it ‘covide’ as in ‘divide’. She’s slightly odd.

Nancydrawn · 19/05/2020 00:06

You say, "don't be ridiculous, mother."

NewMinouMinou · 19/05/2020 00:09

I’d say “The covid-19 crisis” and “the coronavirus that’s causing it”, if that helps.

Having said that, our nickname for it in this house is “scrote-ona” because it’s a massive bollock.

alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 · 19/05/2020 00:10

I'm in Australia where it's called 'all this shit that's going on'.

YourWinter · 19/05/2020 00:12

It's really not difficult. They're different things. Covid-19 is the disease caused by this particular coronavirus, which is just one of many different viruses. There are lots of coronaviruses, not all are transmissible to humans, but only this one causes an illness called Covid-19.

didmyhousethismornin · 19/05/2020 00:14

Corona for me

YourWinter · 19/05/2020 00:16

I've heard someone calling it the beer bug

That's also to stop bots deleting posts on Facebook, for example, suggesting alternative medicine or offering treatment suggestions.

schafernaker · 19/05/2020 00:20

Big fan of ‘Rona and the plague over here. When I have to use it professionally I tend to go with Covid. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Hollyhobbi · 19/05/2020 00:21

I usually put Covid 19 but people this year know you are talking about the Corona Virus that causing it. Our Minister for Health said that it was called Covid 19 because there had been 18 previous Corona Viruses! But we'll let him off cause the poor man is in a high risk category and has a young baby at home.

LauraJayne15 · 19/05/2020 00:29

The virus is called Severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

I think I change between coronavirus, COVID and COVID-19 depending on the context. I’m not sure how class plays into it, but I’d think you’re a bit of a tit using the full name of the virus outside of a professional context Confused

Papatron · 19/05/2020 00:31

"My boss keeps calling it CONVID19 on zoom"
Maybe your boss thinks it's all a hoax, aka a 'plan-demic'?

I tend to call it Corona virus, because The word Covid has an unpleasant timbre, to my ears.

When mentioned in a professional context, Covid-19 is to Corona as Vehicle is to car.

I like the idea of calling it "Covide". I might even start calling it Covidia and see if that catches on.

Wendigogo · 19/05/2020 00:39

I call it the Chinese Plague.

Simseerly,
DJT

FrothyB · 19/05/2020 01:18

I've heard it referred to as both "The Wu-Flu" and "Bat Flu", but that was back in the early days before it had really got a foothold in Italy, let alone here.

I tend to refer to things as "Our/The current situation" or simply "The Virus". Why? I don't really know. Both Covid and Coronavirus just feel unpalatable to say, the same as "social distancing" or any variant thereof. It feels like language that has been forced apon us, dreamt up by some PR person and we've all.just taken to it. Similar to Brexit, which I disliked as a word for the same reason.

If it helps your mothers theory, I'm working class, but able to live in a lower middle class area Wink

NeverTwerkNaked · 19/05/2020 01:26

I am hearing Covid from the medics in my family.

My daughter calls it the "stupid cowonaviwus" (with a foot stamp after).