Pandemic pushes 'covid' to become top word of 2020

"Covid" is now the word of the year.

Global Language Monitor, or GLM, an Austin, Texas, data-research company that tracks trends in language usage worldwide, announced on Friday in a midyear update that "covid" is the top word of 2020.

"It's no surprise that 'covid' has risen to the top of the rankings," said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst at GLM.

"'Covid' has received the highest number of citations ever recorded in our global survey. In fact, 'covid' has outranked all previous words of the year in the 21st century by a factor of 100, or more."

"Covid" is a rather nasty-looking contraction, which is appropriate for a virulent disease. As you likely know, it stands for coronavirus disease, which is the deadly stage of the illness after a person has been infected.

The Latin root of coronavirus－corona, meaning crown－is much more mellifluous, whereas "covid" looks like the name of a failed Chevrolet sports car. Or maybe it's a better name for an obsolete video format.

"I got rid of my 'covid' player when streaming became popular."

Curiously, "covid" outpaced its seemingly more prevalent cousin, "Covid-19"－the number representing the year 2019 that the dreaded disease emerged－which registered as the No 2 word of the year.

GLM describes "Covid-19" as "the official name of the virus caused by the SARS CoV-2 virus, so named in the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases".

Not surprisingly, five of GLM's top 20 words are related to the pandemic: regular "coronavirus" was third, followed by "corona" at fourth. At No 5 was "face mask", the oft-maligned bane of outdoor-bar patrons across the country.

Social distancing

"Social distancing" weighed in at No 8. Apparently, "social distancing" jumped in usage in 2003, around the time of the sudden acute respiratory syndrome epidemic, or SARS, according to Google data. But some citations list its use as far back as the 1920s, in the field of sociology.

The WHO announced at a March 20 news conference that it was moving away from the term "social distancing".

"We've been saying 'physical distancing' because it's important to remain physically separate but socially connected," said Maria Van Kerkhove, an infectious diseases epidemiologist with the WHO. She said that people should nurture their mental health and that of their loved ones during the pandemic.

Pandemic-related terms also populate the second half of the GLM list.

"Flatten the curve"－which GLM describes as "during a pandemic, the ability to manage the number of cases so as to not overwhelm the hospital system"－registered at No 11.

"Zoom meeting" was No 15, a nod to the popular videoconferencing app that has exploded in popularity during the pandemic.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention No 9: "trade war". GLM describes it as a "colossal struggle between (the) US and China with worldwide repercussions".