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

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

#8

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.

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...

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

#10

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.

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...

Yes!! That was it!