Language During the COVID-19 Pandemic
In one of the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became popular to refer to the COVID-19 virus and the pandemic using words that either sounded similar to the initial words or were humorous in nature. For example, instead of saying coronavirus, another word commonly used in the place of COVID-19, one might say "the 'rona," and instead of the pandemic, one might say "the panoramic." While the usage of these words eventually became almost solely for the sake of making light of COVID-19 and the pandemic as a coping mechanism, initially these words were used to avoid censorship on social media.
In an article in The New York Times, the author, Melina Delkic, explains the concept of "algospeak." Delkic describes algospeak as "a new vocabulary" created to "get around algorithms and strict content moderation." During the pandemic, many social media platforms, especially TikTok, would intentionally suppress content made about the pandemic and COVID-19. In order to get around these censors, many content creators would avoid saying buzzwords like COVID-19 and pandemic in their videos. Instead, they would refer to "Miss Rona" and "the panini press."
However, some words used to describe the pandemic and COVID-19 were born out of racism, bigotry, and ignorance. Since the COVID-19 virus originated in Wuhan, China, some referred to COVID-19 as the "Wuhan flu" or "China virus." These names were born out of the belief that China was responsible for the spread of the virus. Others refused to accept that the pandemic was real, insisting that it was a false construction of the government in order to take more control over the day-to-day lives of U.S. citizens. Those who held this belief often referred to the pandemic as a "plandemic." The use of the term grew slightly in popularity after the release of a video called "Plandemic." The video espoused the belief that the pandemic was a construct of the government in order to make money, and the COVID-19 virus was designed in a laboratory and released intentionally.
Examples of the words used in place of COVID-19 and pandemic, both humorous and harmful, can be seen in the word cloud above. Words that are harmful are marked in red, and words meant to be funny are black.