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From: mcguire@aerospace.aero.org (Rod McGuire)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.chem,sci.lang,alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Forgotten Entities: Do You Remember Any?
Keywords: germs
Message-ID: <90526@aerospace.AERO.ORG>
Date: 6 Nov 90 07:31:04 GMT
Sender: news@aerospace.aero.org
Reply-To: mcguire@aero.aerospace.org (Roderick McGuire)
Followup-To: sci.bio
Lines: 27

A vanishing entity I've been intrigued by is "germs." They still exist
but their name/concept is being displaced by more scientific
terminology. Active discussion of germs only occurs in linguistic
backwaters such as: (1) talk with and among 4 year olds about why they
shouldn't share lollipops, and (2) advertisements for Lysol which try
to scare consumers into buying the product. In fact germs, in the
concerns of 4 year olds, seem to have taken over the role previously
played by cooties (head lice.)

But in other areas of discussion, more advanced terminology is
favored.  Even the military now talks about "biological warfare"
rather than "germ warfare".

So my questions are: does anybody still seriously talk about germs, and
what is the scientific usage history of this term?  Was it well accepted
and then fell into disfavor for legitimate reasons or just because
children had appropriated it.


-- Roderick McGuire - mcguire@aerospace.aero.org

PS: Yes I was implying an analogy between 4 year olds and consumers of
Lysol, so there is no reason for followup postings to point this out.

PPS: Please note the newsgroups line and edit followups so that only
appropriate groups get sent information on how to make a cootie
catcher.