A flu virus shut down the US economy in 1872 by infecting horses

Re:A flu virus shut down the US economy in 1872 by infecting... by chrisbrandow on Monday December 07, 2020 @10:06PM (#25341224)

I read or heard something about this recently in connection with some etymological deep dive someone was doing. I can’t remember any details, unhelpfully.

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Re:A flu virus shut down the US economy in 1872 by infecting... by TacticalMalice on Tuesday December 08, 2020 @01:54AM (#25342638)

You are probably thinking of On the Origin of “Oops!”: The Language and Literature of Animal Disease by Ray Malewitz claiming it came a gradual shortening of the word “ooperzootics” (epizooty, a disease affecting many animals at the same time) to “oops” between 1872 and 1921.

https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/origin-word-%E2%80%98oops...

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Re:A flu virus shut down the US economy in 1872 by infecting... by chrisbrandow on Saturday December 19, 2020 @01:12PM (#25479596)

Yes!! That was it!

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Re:A flu virus shut down the US economy in 1872 by infecting... by PEJOE on Monday December 07, 2020 @10:37PM (#25341460)

Please try to make comments that add to the conversation

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