Coronageddon is a portmanteau of Armaggedon and Corona and refers to the end-times condition created by the rapid spread of Covid-19, mass hospitalizations and coronavirus deaths, huge job losses, lockdowns, quarantine and various other restrictions, not to mention constant news feed about the pandemic.
The Urban Dictionary has an entry for Coronageddon which was added on March 13, 2020:
“The near-certain, end-of-times condition created either by the actual COVID-19 virus or the massive social, financial and political devastation generated on the back of global hysteria” (YAWA).
Credit for the term must go to Bob Greer, a senior advisor for Core Commodity Management. According to a LinkedIn post he made on March 11, 2020, Bob dreamed up the term “coronageddon” in February 2020:
Living in Southern California has given our media more than one “..geddon” to talk about, regarding traffic, wildfires, etc. But I haven’t seen any referent anywhere to “coronageddon,” a term I dreamed up a couple of weeks ago. Maybe you will be able to use it (unfortunately) in your discussions or communications.
Greer
The term appeared in the Visual Thesaurus in an article entitled “New Virus, New Words.” Author Nancy Friedman says: “Since the COVID-19 pandemic began its lethal spread in December 2019, people all over the world have been adopting new behaviors and new vocabulary…Here are some of the new terms — call them coronacoinages or coronanovelties, in honor of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 — that I’ve been tracking over the last few weeks.”
The end of the world, brought about either by the pandemic or by related social and economic collapse. Often used facetiously. Previous such portmanteaus have included snowmageddon and carmageddon; the 55-hour shutdown in 2016 of a freeway through the town of Corona, in Southern California, was also dubbed Coronageddon.
Visual Thesaurus
Coronageddon appears in a news article on the The Truth About Watches website. After discussing the fall in Swiss watch sales, job losses and shorter employee hours, author Joseph Adamas laments that this may be the “beginning of the end for the traditional watch industry…Nine months into Coronageddon and we still don’t know how things are going to play out. The pandemic’s effects continue to shift. Two months ago, the Europeans were happy to lecture us on how their superior system managed the pandemic. Today, Paris is going back into lockdown. The uncertainty makes it very hard for companies to plan for their future and makes predictions almost worthless.”
Here is one person’s take on Coronageddon during 2020. It’s quite funny and I recommend watching it.
It’s important to acknowledge that coronageddon fears were not overblown. No one could have foreseen a two week lockdown in the United States turning into a two year nightmare. As the pandemic becomes endemic and the pubic health emergency in the United States is scheduled to end in January 2023 it is hopeful that humanity can put this once in a century event behind us and move forwards.
Social Media Trends as of October 31, 2022
Facebook #coronageddon: 1,600 people are posting about this
Instagram #coronageddon: 8,929 posts
TikTok #coronageddon: 219,100 views
Google Trends: coronageddon first appeared in December 2019 when Covid-19 was first spreading in China. It reached its peak during the first week of December 2020.
Sources:
Adams, Jospeh. “The Decline and Fall of the Traditional Watch Industry – Coronageddon 38.” The Truth About Watches. October 10, 2020. URL: https://thetruthaboutwatches.com/2020/10/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-traditional-watch-industry-coronageddon-38/.
Friedman, Nancy. “New Virus, New Words.” Visual Thesaurus. March 30, 2020. URL: https://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/new-virus-new-words/.
Greer, Bob. “Coronageddon.” LinkedIn. March 11, 2020. URL: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/coronageddon-bob-greer/?articleId=6643383753479634944.
Meme. “Coronageddon” meme. Meme. URL: https://me.me/i/armageddon-but-its-the-coronavirus-3e3212a33732412a9b932e9eae84ae49.
Mosley, Jordan channel. “Coronageddon: Expectations vs. Reality.” YouTube. 2020. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9o00OhW27E.
YAWA. “Coronageddon.” Urban Dictionary. March 13, 2020. URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Coronageddon.