I think it should be the noun form. It’s referring to a location. Chinese is more attributional, like it belongs to China.
Above, I used “South African variant.” I should probably have used “South Africa variant,” although I think that has more chance of being ambiguous.
Also, let’s get real. Being the origin of a variant is not the same albatross as being the origin of the whole disease.
I agree. And where the variant is located can be important, at the outset. It should probably get a non-geographical name once it’s clear that it’s not limited to that area anymore, though. (Which can be almost immediately.)
Союз Советских Социалистических Республик?
Or did you mean CCP, Chinese Communist Party?
(Funny, I never noticed the resemblance!)
lol, good catch! yeah i meant CCP!
The Wuhan Flu is not so clearly racist, not like Chinese virus.
Still it is best to avoid it.
I just watched a recent episode of the topical news show Mock the Week which covered what we (outside the UK) are calling the UK variant …
They called it the Kent variant, even further localising the source of detection, and allowing them to poke fun at the inhabitants of south-eastern England (and it’s status as the gateway to Europe).
To be fair, B.1.1.7 doesn’t really roll off the tongue, and is significantly harder to remember (I had to google the designation) …
Despite some superficial font confusion, that reads SSSR. (So there is not really any resemblance.) Can’t say that I have heard anyone spell that acronym out loud in English, though. They always say USSR, as in "The Ukraine girls really knock me out… "
Interestingly, it’s CPC on their official web site.
Sometimes you see place names as in A/Perth/16/2019(H3N2) flu.
“Bee one one seven” doesn’t seem too hard. Makes me think of “Please Mr. Please don’t play B-17”
This variant is one we really don’t want getting into the top 40 on the worldwide charts.
Especially since it is not the flu, and comparisons have been made to the flu to downplay severity of Covid.
This just seems weird. Racism (if it was the case here) would still be racism if it was based on the pale end of the colour chart
It’s not symmetrical.
Well, UK, South African, and Brazilian aren’t specific ethnicities, any more than “American” is.
There also are not racist associations between whiteness and disease and uncleanliness. It’s just not comparable.
But once a new disease is widespread, it should not be permanently associated with its place of origin regardless. It is stigmatizing, and there’s not really a good reason for it.
My sentiment exactly. It’s just a cheap way to find someone to blame.