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Pig flu ::
The word “pandemic” comes from the Greek “pandemos,” meaning, “of all the people.” It may not simply be coincidence that the word “pandemonium"—uproar and noise—comes right after it in the dictionary. Pandemonium was actually a literary location, chosen by Milton as the capital of hell in “Paradise Lost.” Combine “of all the people” with the Greek “daemon” and you’ve got a chaotic situation instigated by evil spirits.
And how about the word “panic”? There’s that “pan” again, although in this instance, it refers to that rambunctious Greek god Pan, whose chief talent seemed to be for creating fear and terror in lonely, isolated places. But while the word “pandemic” tends to push the panic button in most of us, it doesn’t have to. At face value, a pandemic is only an epidemic over a large area. Not to be flippant with that “only,” but as many medical experts have stressed in the past few weeks, a “pandemic” refers to the scope of a disease and not necessarily its severity.
If we look at what is actually happening, at this very moment, with H1N1, we have to admit not only that things are not all that bad, but also that they have, in many instances, been blown totally out of proportion.
A good read, and not just for the awesome alliteration.
What About Those Pig Flu Numbers?:
Dealing with statistics in a climate such as this is a tricky business because you don’t want to inspire panic or sow complacency.
“Sow” complacency? Hahahahaha!
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