We all know what the ‘m’ stands for. If m*nkeypox has unmarketable connotations, then m-pox isn’t any improvement.

It’s like when K*ntucky Fried Chicken rebranded as KFC, an initialism that officially stands for nothing. We still all know where it’s from, and are either OK with that or we aren’t.

The day I learned this was the last day I made fun of poor people doing various stereotypical things that are considered “bad financial habits” in middle class upbringings. For example, buying lottery tickets with your welfare money is NOT evidence of poor people being bad at math. It’s a rational financial decision in their existing regulatory environment. A lottery winner can fly right over the welfare cliff, while the people saving up for a car repair get punished and pulled back into poverty. Maybe they’ll enjoy a few years of luxury until they squander it all because they never learned that staying off the dole requires different strategies than getting off the dole.