Hacker News Reader

Comment by sdoering | Hacker News Reader

From the article:

> I was almost finished with this post when the WHO decided to go with Omicron instead of Nu (or even Xi) and then I had to go through and replace Nu with Omicron about 25 times. We could have just said ‘the Nu variant’ a lot but the WHO hates both efficiency and fun even more than it hates freedom, it seems. Sad.

View on HN

Seems reasonable to skip Nu to avoid miscommunication. Maybe overthinking it a little.

And seems reasonable to skip Xi because reasons.

Hey, only 8 variants left until we are done with this shit!

Pi, Rho, Sigma, Tau, Upsilon, Phi, Chi, Psi, Omega

Right?!?!

Then aleph is next.

Funny how they skipped "Xi" Wimps.

No. It’s sensible to. This isn’t a subject to get all edgy and political over. Just avoid any obvious touchy symbols given the symbols are entirely interchangeable.

If there was a letter sharing a name with any current political leader I’m sure they’d do the same.

Especially not the leader who created this bio weapon and unleashed it on the world.

Care to substantiate that for all of us? I think it's safe to assume you can't. Now think about the effect of posting an oft-repeated but unsubstantiated, controversial meme like this. Did you accomplish something? Movement towards a goal? (Maybe you just got a feeling of catharsis?) Was it worth the effort & other effects?

The entire point of giving variants Greek letters is to use a neutral, easy to use term. It is mostly to avoid naming a worldwide variant after the country where it was first discovered.

Nu is confusing and Xi is not neutral. Omicron is good, and if it has to displace Delta, they should be careful about the name, because it will be repeated a lot.

I knew it! This Greek Bioweapon will continue to be used with impunity!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com