Learning the New Coronavirus Language

Dear Reader:

Yesterday as I rode around Summerville… just to basically get out of the house…with my cars windows down and my radio playing…enjoying another beautiful day…I noticed new billboards that had gone up….some saying “Stay Home…Save Lives” …others referring to doing out part to “flatten the curve.” Here are two examples from New York City.

Sign put up in Memphis by the Mane t-shirt manufacturers…Mane being slang for ‘man.’

When I drove over to Mt. Pleasant last Saturday the highway signs read:

In just a few short weeks we have all learned practically a new language …and leave it to Gen Z (our teenagers entering their 20’s) to already have created new slang expressions for many coronavirus terms. (As a Baby Boomer I am glad I haven’t heard one of their first slang expressions directed at us in awhile…hope it “died” out…”Not nice.” The term was:

Boomer Remover — For a few weeks, some particularly callous young people were calling the virus the “boomer remover,” referring to their belief that only old people would die or be seriously affected by the coronavirus. (*Of course it backfired when many baby boomers recovered from the virus and Gen Z realized the virus didn’t differentiate with age as young people were having a hard fight when they caught the virus.)

Some of these young peoples’ other slang expressions are….

Miss Rona or Rona.. nicknames for the coronavirus
Post-Rona- young people are already planning their outfits, making reservations for their ‘coming out’ party when the whistle blows…so to speak.
Covidiot- someone who is not taking the virus seriously…not practicing social distancing and not staying home
Coronacation– with school on-line and students home…many young people are calling it the corona…vacation zooming in to party.
Quarantine and Chill- instead of “Netflix and Chill” parties they used to have with friends over.. now one takes selfies of themselves doing different things and sharing them in different ways.

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For the rest of us…the older generations, starting with the Millennials, Gen X and finally us Baby Boomers…we are still learning what all the new terms surrounding these new phrases truly mean…like:

“Flattening the curve“ – Hospitals can only cope with so many patients. Flattening the curve is an attempt to reduce how many cases of COVID-19 occur at the same time so that hospitals aren’t overwhelmed. (This is an early goal towards working back to “normalcy.”)
COVID-19: The disease, not the virus, that causes the disease. * The virus is named SARS-CoV-2
PCR test: This is the test used to find out if you have a COVID-19 infection. It’s a genetic test. A swab is taken from the mucous membrane lining your nose and throat.
PPE– This is personal protective equipment. Stuff front-line healthcare staff need to keep them safe. Things like masks, disposable gloves and goggles. The level of protection that PPE needs to provide is different depending on how risky the activity being performed is.
Pandemic: When many people in several countries on several continents have a disease. COVID-19 is considered a pandemic with over 203 countries and territories reporting confirmed cases.

For the First Time: Top causes of death in the United States: Heart disease, cancer and COVID-19

Latest sobering death tolls in the United States put COVID-19 3rd in the top three categories of deaths in our country. The federal government warns that the 35,000 deaths reported in the first three weeks of April… coming in from state and local areas is less than the final verdict will show…due to the delayed death certificates coming in from these areas.

So until tomorrow…

Jo Dufford told me recently…she has lived long enough now to have seen many historical tragedies, including a world war, in her life…but she has never lived through something this big that is affecting the whole world and bringing it to a stand still..to its knees. And that’s where we all need to be …on our knees…to get through this challenge together with our Creator showing us the Way!.

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

To date…I have heard back from Gin-g, Patty, and Jo …adding their “I’m old enough to know better than….” Let me share them with you!

Gin-g

I’m old enough to know to “keep my thoughts to myself and to just keep praying and smiling …and maybe say a few naughty words under my breath…lol…” 🙂

Patty

I’m old enough to know better than to “think I will remember everything on my grocery list!” 🙂

I’m older enough to know.…Should be old enough to know better than to always think “Age is just a number.” Sometimes it really is more than a number. Sometimes my mind says, “You can do that. You’ve done it a hundred times. How hard could it be?” After a lot of embarrassment and many bruises and much pain, your body says, “Really? and just how old did you think you were?” 🙂

The garden is calling and a new plant for the water pitcher planter on the front porch! The earlier plant needs planting in the ground so I am putting varigated lysimachia in the planter for awhile!

A Big Shout-Out to my Sistah BROOKIE! Since her birthday always comes first…she has been designated “The High Priestess of the YaYa Sisterhood.” (Rather ironic in the sense that she is also the shortest YaYa.) 🙂

But the Ya Ya’s wouldn’t be the Ya Ya’s without Brookie…she loves planning and getting us all together which makes this birthday a little sadder….we had planned to do our May Edisto get-together celebration in a couple of weeks…but, of course, that is out so I got my presents in the mail early to her.

We actually both live right off Highway 17…about 30 miles apart…so if I mail something one day…she always gets it the next and vice-versa… she got my gifts yesterday…if nothing else..I was the earliest to say ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE…I LOVE YOU and miss you!”