Who Are The Covidiots?

The internet has a new word for all the spring breakers, partygoers and hoarders behaving selfishly during the new coronavirus threat.

They’re calling those people “COVIDIOTS,” a nickname inspired by the COVID-19 disease, which appears to be bringing out the worst in a minority of people, even while others practice generosity and social distancing.

Welcome to the Coronaverse. (Or is it the Coronapocalypse?) Two months ago, these words or phrases either didn’t exist or were rarely used. As the pandemic has upended our lives, it also has catapulted a barrage of new vocabulary and slang into the mainstream lexicon, helping people make sense of — and laugh at — these dark times. It is making things easier when the humor is there, nevertheless dark humor or any other kind. Just makes you feel better.

Previously, the fastest word to enter the dictionary was AIDS, which took two years from appearing in The New York Times in 1982 to enter Merriam-Webster. By comparison, COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, shattered all records, going from coinage to dictionary in 34 days. Immediately it shot to the most-searched word on the dictionary website.

“That is the first and only time we’ve seen that,” said Peter Sokolowski, an editor at Merriam-Webster. “People were looking it up the second before and the second after it went live.”

The new words symbolize a shared human experience as people across the globe grapple with a new way of life. During tragedy, new playful slang can also foster humor and connection, as people Zoom and tweet from their living rooms.

Other slang may or may not be around for the long term: Someone behaving irresponsibly during the outbreak can be called both a “morona” and a “covidiot.”

The two terms will duke it out in the wild, but “covidiot” will likely prevail as it just sounds better, said Heather Littlefield, a Northeastern linguistics professor.

“It has to do with how catchy it is,” Littlefield said. “It’s almost like a fighting-out of the funniest or best words.”

“Covidiot” may win the battle, but still fade when social distancing ends. It even contains a prime example of fleeting slang: “Vidiot” was an insult in the 1950s, when many feared televisions, referring to someone made insane by watching too much TV, Sokolowski said.

So , this is it about the new slangs coming out of these long Corona times.

Times change, languages change as well, even adding some ridiculous slangs to use when people are being irresponsible and dull. But we have to admit, these slangs have their charm, they are catchy to use and make us laugh in hard times.

Here you can also check a similar article of my colleague but with more serious approach : https://mvs-pharma.com/the-importance-of-not-being-a-covid-19-denier/

MVS Pharma GmbH is an innovative pharmaceutical start-up company, which researches in the area of reducing viruses and bacteria with plant-based Covid 19 aerosol protection. Their special formula ensures the purity and the stability of the used ingredients during storage.

Aleksandar Videv is an article writer, who explores the scientific and fictional ideas about future with/or after Covid-19…. and the possibilities for producing aerosols made out of plants against respiratory viruses and bacteria.