# Confusion due to use of Greek letters

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusion-due-to-use-of-greek-letters/943798>\
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone\
**Tags:** covid-quarantine\
**Created:** [June 7, 2021, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusion-due-to-use-of-greek-letters/943798 "2021-06-07T22:29:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2021, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusion-due-to-use-of-greek-letters/943798/1 "2021-06-07T22:29:47Z")

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If you look at Coronavirus in Wikipedia, you might note the classification section:

> **[Coronavirus | Classification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronavirus#Classification)**
>
> Coronaviruses form the subfamily Orthocoronavirinae, which is one of two sub-families in the family Coronaviridae, order Nidovirales, and realm Riboviria. They are divided into the four genera: Alphacoronavirus, Betacoronavirus, Gammacoronavirus and Deltacoronavirus. Alphacoronaviruses and betacoronaviruses infect mammals, while gammacoronaviruses and deltacoronaviruses primarily infect birds.
> 1.Genus: Alphacoronavirus;
> Species: Alphacoronavirus 1 (TGEV, Feline coronavirus, Canine coronavirus), ...

lists Alphacoronavirus, Betacoronavirus, Gammacoronavirus, and Deltacoronavirus. These have nothing to do with the recent designation of four variants as Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. SARS-CoV-2 and all its variants are part of the Betacoronaviruses.

Using Greek letters for the variants is a bad idea. There’s going to be lots of confusion going forward where people google “alpha coronavirus” and get something they aren’t looking for.

Anyway, if you’re already confused, the four variants were previously known by where they were first found:

Alpha – first found in the UK  
Beta – South Africa  
Gamma – Brazil  
Delta – India

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**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusion-due-to-use-of-greek-letters/943798/2 "2021-06-08T18:49:54Z")

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I was going to suggest that we could call them “COVID Alpha” and “COVID Beta” to avoid confusion with “Alphacoronavirus” and “Betacoronavirus”. But it seems from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variants_of_SARS-CoV-2) that the names will be dumbed down all the way to simply “Alpha” and “Beta”.

What will we do for the variants of the next pandemic?

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**Author:** ![CardboardBoxx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardboardboxx/32/7079_2.png) [@CardboardBoxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CardboardBoxx)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusion-due-to-use-of-greek-letters/943798/3 "2021-06-08T18:56:22Z")

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Egyptian Hieroglyphs naturally.

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**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusion-due-to-use-of-greek-letters/943798/4 "2021-06-08T19:05:20Z")

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Some of the rejected proposals were: nonsense names; Greek gods; bird names; numbering them VOC1, VOC2, …

NB the WMO stopped using Greek letters to name storms because it was too “distracting” and “confusing”

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2021, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confusion-due-to-use-of-greek-letters/943798/5 "2021-06-08T19:15:59Z")

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I agree that it is dumb to use Greek letters when they are already used. Even just using letters would make more sense.

I’m also curious how well these will catch on, being such boring names—especially since, for a little while at least, any new article is going to have to still name the country of origin so people know which virus they are talking about.

I presume the order is based on when they were discovered?