The Académie Française (see previously here and here) has gone against colloquial use and ruled that the virus and derived disease, initialisms they made be, should take the feminine article la. Moreover, the Académie takes exception to the use of this arguably inexpedient and inconsistent acronym in the first place, its druthers being for the Latin term morbus, as in Covim—the disease caused by the crown-shaped virus.
Saturday, 23 May 2020
these gender-reveal parties are getting worse
Language Log catches us up on a bit of news we missed regarding France’s stance on M. le Covid.
The Académie Française (see previously here and here) has gone against colloquial use and ruled that the virus and derived disease, initialisms they made be, should take the feminine article la. Moreover, the Académie takes exception to the use of this arguably inexpedient and inconsistent acronym in the first place, its druthers being for the Latin term morbus, as in Covim—the disease caused by the crown-shaped virus.
The Académie Française (see previously here and here) has gone against colloquial use and ruled that the virus and derived disease, initialisms they made be, should take the feminine article la. Moreover, the Académie takes exception to the use of this arguably inexpedient and inconsistent acronym in the first place, its druthers being for the Latin term morbus, as in Covim—the disease caused by the crown-shaped virus.