.
Scientists at the World Health Organization are trying to get the public to refer to swine flu by a different, more scientific name: A (H1N1). Story at the NY Times is: here.
Are people supposed to say A (H1N1) every time? I think no one will have time to tell their children to wash their hands…”Johnny, wash your hands at school today so you do not get Influenza A dash H one N one…”
That reminds me of how silly it seems to me that, in French, when you need help, you say “Au secours!” I always thought that all those words (and the way you pronounce them in French) would make a person suck in water and drowned at the wrong time.
Anyway…experts usually name things in hope that they will be called by a nickname of their initials. Like the NASA’s new treadmill in space: the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (or Colbert.)
So, there has got to be an easier way to express “Influenza A (H1N1).” The only gimmicky name I can come up with is:
“A Hiney Flu.”
I hope you see how it works, “1”‘s sometimes become “i’s” in the world of license plates and e-mail nicknames. And, “i” can be pronounced “ee” in Spanish and other languages.
So, “Johnny, wash your hands at school today so you do not get A Hiney Flu.”
(My mother would never say that word…)
Filed under: News Tagged: | A(H1N1), A-H1N1, Comedy, influenza, nicknames, public health, swine flu
Leave a Reply