The COVID-19 pandemic has seen few words loathed as much as ‘jab’

Why does nobody like the word “jab”? Is it because it’s British? American? Too violent? Too scary?

With new vocabulary comes new language disputes; in this, the COVID era is no exception.

In the halcyon days of March 2020, some vaguely rumbled about whether important distinctions were being lost: was there not, in medical practice, a slight difference between quarantine and isolation?

Was it fine for us to refer to the coronavirus, when technically we are referring to but one virus of a wider family? 

This year, language gripes have understandably shifted to the realm of vaccination. There are some gripes in the lexis that the ABC’s advisory body on language has had cause to rule on: mutant strain is best avoided, patient zero is to be…