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"...Obviously their linguistics backgrounds show a great deal to be desired..."
(ANTH281 Lab)--Shelter-in-place, lockdown, social distancing, surge, mitigation, and the worst one of them all, "reopening," have done nothing but add to the chaos surrounding the unique set of circumstances surrounding the pandemic. A linguist's nightmare, the barrage of terminology used to crowd-control the deadly outbreak has created a semantics throwback to the days of the Medieval Black Plague, topped with the fact that no one, or everybody, is in charge.
"The same thing occurred upon the removal of the houses for the formation of St. Katharine's Docks, and it was understood at the present moment the London Dock Company were about to make arrangements for pulling down 500 houses. by which at least 5,000 persons would be driven on the streets or to find shelter in places which were already disgusting from their squalid wretchedness." (Morning Chronicle, 1853)
"The rapid growth of railways in the metropolis is making fearful inroads upon those localities which are inhabited by the poor and destitute classes, who as a consequence are driven to find shelter in places more filthy and overcrowded than those from which they were ejected; hence it is that smallpox, scarlatina, typhus, &c., propagates so rapidly in infected districts." (Standard, 1866)
Culturally transliterated to the modern pandemic-paranoid public, shelter-in-place means go find a place along the waterfront and die a horrible death by disease, mugging and murder. The term lockdown also has a strong negative connotation, usually associated with prison riots. In one particular report found in the Western Mail of the late 19th century, yet another meaning emerged;
The White House task force, as well as the myriad of other agencies and task forces competing for authority, apparently overlooked its choice of words and phrases when it came to the language used in briefings, where in one case it referred to indigents living in run down tenements or in another to crazy people in asylums. The Manchester Times reported in 1842 that "the system of entails adds field to field till an individual becomes the ruler of an entire county; and this operation is accelerated by the landlord's monopoly, which enriches him while it impoverishes the rest of the community, and thus widens the social distance between them." (Manchester Times, 1842)
Across the board, the status quo elitist semantics of the pandemic leaves a lot to be desired when it comes down to communicating effectively with the public. That very miscommunication is at the heart of the current quagmire.
Task force graphing in the briefings indicated early on the see-saw effect in surge mitigation as outlined by the various directors at the podium. That phrase stems from more contemporary usage in seawall construction to halt the damaging effects of hurricanes. (Buckley, Manitowoc Herald-Times, 2012) Only recently, the pandemic has been referred as a tsunami. As recently as two weeks ago, Mary Beth Griggs reported in The Verge the more familiar word;
That brings it all around to the bottom line, reopening. The word should never have been used from the outset to describe the plan that would ultimately take place in, yet another misleading term, phases. It is clear that the "medicos" arrived at these terms without consideration of their semantic impact on the cultural environment where one invited copious disregard for the rules already in place and the other promised, falsely, a return to "normal." Obviously their linguistics background shows a great deal to be desired. Griggs correctly points out the inept leadership but that was a result of miscommunication based on linguistics ignorance stemming from that very over-confidence in their professionalism.
Like the lunatic who died a horrible death in the hot bath, it all boils down to vocabulary, and the task force team, led by high government officials with a limited knowledge of English, just doesn't have it.
Media now reports there are several states in what's called the "red zone" of the pandemic. (ABC News) According to a recent report in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, dated 19 August 1844, that was defined as;
"Her sylph like figure was enclosed in a pale green caftan; embroidered on the bosom and skirt in silver thread. This garment reached a little below her knees, and over it she wore an outer robe of light gauze, confined around the waist by a red zone of Fez silk."
The person described appeared to be a Moorish princess and the observer a "Mr. Hay." (Post-Gazette, 1844)
Dr. Fauci has now suggested the states hit the "reset button" on the pandemic. (CNBC) The immunologist has apparently not given credit to its earlier use by Lee W. Campbell of the "Camel" Shoe Store;
"...as well as having to wait less time themselves, if they will not ask us to change or reset buttons on Saturdays..." (Wellington Daily Standard, 1887)
References
Wretchedness, London Morning Chronicle, 19 March 1853, Page 2.
The London Standard, 12 Jan 1866, Page 7.
Lunatic, Cardiff, Wales Western Mail, 01 July 1882, Page 3.
Social-distance, Manchester Times, 30 April 1842, Page 2.
Buckley, G., Seawall, Manitowoc Herald-Times, 07 March 2012, Page 5.
Griggs, MB, This isn't a COVID-19 wave--it's a tsunami, https://www.theverge.com/21311326/covid-19-coronavirus-wave-tsunami-disaster-virus-deaths-cases-rise-pandemic
Alligator, https://www.123rf.com/photo_9706998_american-alligator-alligator-mississippiensis-in-its-natural-habitat-on-the-banks-of-the-suwannee-ri.html
Quagmire image, uncredited
Red Zone, https://abcnews.go.com/US/coronavirus-live-updates-illinois-gov-jb-pritzker-files/story?id=71836502
Red Zone, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 19 Aug 1844, Page 2.
Reset Button, https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/17/dr-anthony-fauci-says-the-us-needs-to-hit-the-reset-button-on-covid-19.html
Reset Buttons, Wellington (KS) Daily Standard, 14 Dec 1887, Page 2.
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