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Interesting choice to pick "Omicron" instead of "Nu," which news outlets had been expecting them to use. Perhaps this allows them to avoid having to use "Xi" as
by jasonhansel 5y ago
Interesting choice to pick "Omicron" instead of "Nu," which news outlets had been expecting them to use. Perhaps this allows them to avoid having to use "Xi" as the name of a Covid variant, which would have been...inconvenient for the WHO.
- void-pointer 5y agoI think they realised that “Nu” was too similar to “New” that if/when the next variant came around, there would be confusion as to what someone means when they speak the words “New variant”
- yosito 5y agoMaybe they wanted to avoid antivax jokes about the Nu normal.
- kranke155 5y agoNu means naked in Portuguese (and Spanish I think?) Maybe they wanted to avoid all the lazy puns. A pretty significant part of the world speaks either of those two languages.
- Mountain_Skies 5y agoFuturama fans are going to have fun with this one and the Omicron Persei invasion.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- tommiegannert 5y agoIt would probably be reported as Ni or Ny in Spanish: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfabeto_griego#Letras https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfabeto_griego#Letras
- lottin 5y ago"Nu" means nude in Portuguese, French and Catalan, but that's the masculine form, whereas the noun variant is feminine, therefore "nu variant" would never be mistaken for "nude variant". But even if it could be misinterpreted, I don't think anybody would care.
- kergonath 5y agoVariant is masculine in French. Well, the feminine form “variante” exists as well, but is not used in this context. Also, both the masculine and feminine forms, “nu” and “nue”, are pronounced exactly the same. “Le variant nu” in French would always be ambiguous.
- kranke155 5y agoWhat? Lol it would be a PR mess in Latin America, Portugal, Spain and parts of Africa. I speak Portuguese and I can assure you what you’ve written is funny nonsense. No one would care about this when making the 1000th internet meme.
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- mattlondon 5y agoWhat is the problem with Xi? Perhaps there is a second meaning I don't know?
- Teever 5y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- powerslacker 5y agoXi Jinping is the current leader of China.
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- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- neither_color 5y agoBut that's pronounced chi like chai no? I tend to not read Xi as pinyin unless it's in context with other Chinese words.
- ogogmad 5y agoPronounced more like zai or ksai or ksee. Chi (pronounced "kai") looks like an X, which is a different letter.
- mercy_dude 5y agoBecause if WHO like any other multi national agency is afraid to offend China.
- beebmam 5y agoThe Greek letter Xi is pronounced very differently than the pinyin Xi
- wk_end 5y agoThis is true and doesn't really matter, for the optics.
- kgin 5y agoHave you heard about the nu variant? No, what’s it called? The nu variant Yeah, does it have a name? It’s nu Yeah I know it’s new but what do they call it? What does who call it? That’s what I’m asking you! What does WHO call it?
- JonathanFly 5y agoLogged in just to reply and say I enjoyed this comment so much I've been randomly laughing over the course of the day just thinking about it again. A+++
- matt123456789 5y ago:) https://youtu.be/sShMA85pv8M https://youtu.be/sShMA85pv8M
- sgerenser 5y agoNailed it, I think this is exactly why they skipped Nu.
- anotherhue 5y agoNaturally.
- MontagFTB 5y agoI don’t even know what I’m _talking_ about!
- BbzzbB 5y agoPlus, "M" and "N" can often be hard to disambiguate, having "Mu" and "Nu" just adds another layer of confusion.
- bigodbiel 5y agoWho calls it?
- NamTaf 5y agoWait, I thought WHO's on first.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]