# Why is it crass or impolite to say "the HIV" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 4, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-crass-or-impolite-to-say-the-hiv/680468 "2014-02-04T00:30:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-crass-or-impolite-to-say-the-hiv/680468/21 "2014-02-04T13:32:10Z")
To distinguish the subtle difference between “in hospital” and “in the hospital” that British English has, I have always heard Americans use “at” instead of “in” to describe someone who works there or is just visiting. If I went to my doctor’s office and he wasn’t there, and the nurse said he was “in the hospital” I would ask if he was okay. If the nurse says he is “at the hospital”, I would ask when he would be back. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-crass-or-impolite-to-say-the-hiv/680468/22 "2014-02-04T17:00:59Z")
Are you taking the pot? ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-crass-or-impolite-to-say-the-hiv/680468/23 "2014-02-04T21:53:21Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > “To market” is another mainly UK thing to say, whereas American prefer “to the store” or more rarely “to the market.” According to [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Little_Piggy), British little piggies go “to the market”; but gay and lesbian little piggies go “to market.” (Oddly, the gay and lesbian piggies don’t get roast beef or wee on the way home). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-crass-or-impolite-to-say-the-hiv/680468/24 "2014-02-04T22:43:55Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Back in the 19th century maybe, and only then if they were going to an open-air country market or street market. > > What British people generally actually say is “to the shop”. Both “store” and “market” to refer to a shop are mainly American usages. So, Brits no longer go “to market, to market, to buy a fat pig / Home again, home again, jiggety jig”? ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-crass-or-impolite-to-say-the-hiv/680468/25 "2014-02-05T07:52:51Z")
I’ve watched a number of british television shows and I swear I’ve heard them say “catch cold” and “to market” but I don’t have any specific cites. Anyhow I agree that grammatically there are very few differences between British and American dialects, but I think it’s more than just “hospital.” And yeah, we would say “at the \_\_\_\_\_\_” for things like school, hospital, jail, etc to distinguish between “in \_\_\_\_\_” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-crass-or-impolite-to-say-the-hiv/680468/26 "2014-02-05T08:00:26Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > I guess, for me, I treat is as a proper noun even though it’s not. But it is. Names of viruses, bugs, syndromes, illnesses… are very often treated as proper nouns. Someone doesn’t have the Down’s either, although they may have the downs. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-crass-or-impolite-to-say-the-hiv/680468/27 "2014-02-05T08:08:37Z")
The USA is a proper noun as well, but we don’t just say “USA” we always put the article in front of it. I don’t buy this thing about proper nouns not needing articles. The Thames, The Astrodome, The Colosseum, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, etc. The ebola virus is commonly written that way. “An outbreak of the Ebola virus killed 80 people” for example. You could also just say “An outbreak of Ebola killed 80 people” and it would sound just as right. But HIV doesn’t seem to have that flexibility. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-crass-or-impolite-to-say-the-hiv/680468/28 "2014-02-05T13:33:41Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I’ve watched a number of british television shows and I swear I’ve heard them say “catch cold” and “to market” but I don’t have any specific cites. You may well have, as many British shows, especially those popular in America, have historical settings. Anyway, as I said, “catch cold” is used, but, like the “hospital” case, has a subtly different meaning from"catch a cold", which is also used. However, British people (unlike Americans) will almost never use “market”, with or without articles, to refer to a shop or store. (They won’t often use “store” either.) A market is not a single business but an agglomeration of many businesses - many stalls, selling different things - often temporary and in the open air, and was a much more important aspect of life in the fairly distant past than it is today. Even in the past, though, I think “going to market” without an article tended to imply that you going to sell, rather than just buy. A farmer would take his produce _to market_, to sell; a wage earner might go _to the market_ to buy some of it. Anyhow I agree that grammatically there are very few differences between British and American dialects, but I think it’s more than just “hospital.” > [@drewtwo99](#): > > And yeah, we would say “at the \_\_\_\_\_\_” for things like school, hospital, jail, etc to distinguish between “in \_\_\_\_\_” Sure, but that just marks yet another subtle semantic distinction. The prisoner is _in jail_, the guard, who is currently at work there, is _in the jail_, and the visitor, who is there very temporarily, is _at the jail_ (especially if you want to emphasize that he will very soon be be somewhere else, or that he has scarcely been inside at all). I don’t think British and American English differ over this. (They do differ over “school”, but in different respects.) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-crass-or-impolite-to-say-the-hiv/680468/29 "2014-02-05T16:05:34Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > The ebola virus is commonly written that way. “An outbreak of the Ebola virus killed 80 people” for example. You could also just say “An outbreak of Ebola killed 80 people” and it would sound just as right. But HIV doesn’t seem to have that flexibility. Sure it does. “Magic Johnson was diagnosed with the HIV virus.” “Magic Johnson was diagnosed with HIV.” But you wouldn’t say “An outbreak of the Ebola killed 80 people.” (And forget the whole “but then you’re saying virus twice” thing for “the HIV virus.” That is just the way the language is. “The HIV virus” brings up 11,500,000 hits on Google.) ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-crass-or-impolite-to-say-the-hiv/680468/30 "2014-02-06T00:11:58Z")
I’m baffled by usage regarding the country now known as Ukraine. I grew up calling the region “the Ukraine,” or else Ukrainia. Now I only hear Ukraine. Regarding Ebola virus, “the Ebola” would seem to refer to the region the virus is from. But I would probably only ever use “Ebola virus,” as the article seems superfluous. Odd, innit? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-crass-or-impolite-to-say-the-hiv/680468/31 "2014-02-06T05:55:21Z")
In 1993, after Ukraine became independent, its government asked to be referred to simply as Ukraine. The Ukraine in english, as neither Russian nor Ukrainian uses articles, is usually regarded now as, unintentionally or not, subtly undermining its status as a country in its own right rather than a geographical location of a larger national body as it was when it was part of the USSR. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-crass-or-impolite-to-say-the-hiv/680468.md?page=1)