A retired ICU physician, Cory Franklin, at Cook County Hospital in Chicago writes a fairly regular column for the Tribune. I always enjoy his columns. In his most recent one "So many want to predict COVID-19's trajectory. But the virus refused to cooperate" goes through all the missed predictions of COVID-19. But - I liked one of the words he used: Gotterdammerung. Yes, we mentioned it here in this thread and in another thread where Hab posted a poem using it. In the thread linked to above, CJ said that it means "the end of the world." Franklin calls omicron the Gotterdammerung, or, he says, "the last dramatic and apocalyptic moment on stage for COVID-19." For heaven's sake, let's hope so!

Have any of you seen it in use? Another great German word...

I read it yesterday in an old book by conservative philosopher Eric Hoffer, The Tenor of The Times.

quote:

Gotterdammerung

It should be Götterdämmerung, if I were to get all prescriptivist on it.

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
Franklin calls omicron the Gotterdammerung, or, he says, "the last dramatic and apocalyptic moment on stage for COVID-19." For heaven's sake, let's hope so!

I know the word and given that it does usually signify "the end of the world" let's hop not. "The last dramatic and apocalyptic moment" doesn't sound hopeful to me. The word doesn't mean the end of omicron it means the end of everything.

Ah, yes, Z. You are correct.