Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have subsequently aired different messages on the possibility of more severe restrictions in the biggest American city， with the mayor urging residents to prepare to “shelter in place” and the governor criticizing the idea and the language. Cuomo has dismissed “shelter in place” as a relic of the Atomic Age.
“People are using different terms somewhat interchangeably，” said Dr. Irwin Redlener， an expert on disaster preparedness and public health at Columbia University. The tug-of-war over terminology echoes the patchwork of measures that state and local governments have taken， he said.
VIRUS VOCABULARY
Kathleen Hall Jamieson cringes when scientists toss out statements of “morbidity” and “mortality” in the same breath， when public officials warn of “asymptomatic” people posing a threat， and when news conferences are peppered with words like “vector” and “transmission.”
“They are incomprehensible to many in the public，” said the University of Pennsylvania communications expert.
“Public health officials，” she said， “need to translate their technical language into intelligible language.”
That means saying something like “not showing any symptoms” instead of “asymptomatic，” using simple verbs like “spread” versus “transmit，” and opting for the clarity of “hand-washing” over “hygiene.”
But Hall Jamieson marvels at how Dr. Anthony Fauci and others have managed to get the public to grasp a complicated medical concept with the phrase “flattening the curve，” often accompanied by visual hand cues.
And many see “social distancing” to be the greatest pandemic-era addition to the vernacular yet - easily understood phrasing that's helped communicate to millions that they need to keep a safe berth to avoid spreading the virus.
新闻节目中蹦出“热点地区”“封锁”等词语。交谈中充斥着“检疫隔离”“隔离”等字眼。领导人们力劝“拉开社交距离”“就地防护”和“拉平曲线”。
一转眼，我们的词汇表就这样改变了，一如其他的一切。