I give the WHO kudos for picking omicron instead of nu. (Actually, I’m pretty shocked that they did something this common-sensical, and notice that I am surprised.) I spent Friday morning (= Thursday evening, US time) talking out loud with colleagues about the new nu variant and after like two attempts to clarify what the f—I actually meant, multiple people independently joked that it was so bad we should just skip nu and go to omicron.
If you’ve only ever discussed it in text, you’re underestimating how bad it is to use “nu” as an adjective in verbal conversation.
I give the WHO kudos for picking omicron instead of nu. (Actually, I’m pretty shocked that they did something this common-sensical, and notice that I am surprised.) I spent Friday morning (= Thursday evening, US time) talking out loud with colleagues about the new nu variant and after like two attempts to clarify what the f—I actually meant, multiple people independently joked that it was so bad we should just skip nu and go to omicron.
If you’ve only ever discussed it in text, you’re underestimating how bad it is to use “nu” as an adjective in verbal conversation.
Just curious, what’s the problem with “nu” in verbal conversation ?
It sounds like “new”.
I imagine conversations going like: “So, this nu variant, huh?” “Which new variant? We’re getting minor variations all the time.” “But the nu one...”
And that would get even trickier if you want to some newer new variant that succeeds this one.
“Wait, when you say [?new | ?nu], are you talking about the old nu variant or the new new variant?”
It is pronounced identically to the adjective “new”.
Well yes, I think that would be implied by the shock