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> This bug Is it just me, or is "bug" a weird choice of words here? To me, a "bug" is an insect, and I don't think that a bacterium would have six legs. :)
by majewsky 9y ago
> This bug
Is it just me, or is "bug" a weird choice of words here? To me, a "bug" is an insect, and I don't think that a bacterium would have six legs. :)
- Luc 9y ago'Bugs' is also slang for 'germs'.
- taco_emoji 9y agoDisappointing that you got downvoted for what appears to be an honest question, but as others are saying, "bug" is often used in slang for microbes (especially disease-causing ones).
- evincarofautumn 9y ago“Bug” is sometimes used to refer to an illness caused by a bacterium or virus, as in “I can’t come into work today; I must have caught that [flu/stomach] bug that’s going around”. It’s not such a stretch to use it colloquially to refer to the microorganism itself.
- nkrisc 9y agohttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bug https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bug Third definition. Using "bug" here is hardly a stretch.
- Symmetry 9y agoGenerally people will use "bug" to refer to any arthropod or, more loosely, to several classes of small thing including bacteria that seem animal-like but not bacteria that seem plant-like. Generally all of these usages have connotations of being bad but also not very important. For instance someone might refer to the common cold as a "bug" but generally not to Ebola.