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“Bug” meaning “insect” is a North Americanism [0]. The article is from The Guardian in the UK, where the non-insect meaning is the more natural interpretation,

“Bug” meaning “insect” is a North Americanism [0]. The article is from The Guardian in the UK, where the non-insect meaning is the more natural interpretation, particularly in a headline (cf “hospital superbug” for stories about MRSA [1]). [0] https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/bug_1 https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/englis... [1] https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/mrsa/ https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/mrsa/

shkkmo 5y ago
But even that meaning applies it only to infectious diseases, not all bacteria.
GordonS 5y ago
Brit here - context matters, so when I read this headline on HN, which is US-centric, I assumed it meant insects. But, even if I'd known it was on The Guardian, context still matters, and "bug" feels like an odd choice of word in a sentence like this, where "bacteria" would be more obvious - I have to assume they've chosen "bug" as clickbait. Which has me disappointed with them :/