GENEVA — The World Health Organization announced Thursday it will would stop using the term "swine flu" to avoid confusion over the danger posed by pigs. The policy shift came a day after Egypt began slaughtering thousands of pigs in a misguided effort to prevent swine flu..."Rather than calling this swine flu ... we're going to stick with the technical scientific name H1N1 influenza A," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said.
"H1N1 influenza A"? I dunno, Dick. That's a lot less catchy.
(Best use of the word "swine" in American literary history? Dorothy Parker is heading into the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City, right as Clare Boothe Luce is walking in. Parker is a theater critic at the time. Luce (wife of Time/Life/Fortune publisher Henry Luce) is a playwright. "Age before beauty, my dear," Luce says cruelly and steps aside. Parker legendarily does not miss a beat. "Pearls before swine!" she says, and pushes through the revolving door.)
