COVID19 came into our everyday lexicon in February, 2020. Though the viral disease
that is creating serious havoc all over the world was first notified in
December 2019 in China, the name was only given on 11th February
2020 by WHO. It is simply an abbreviation for “Corona Virus
Disease 2019”.
Was it to avoid China or Chinese being prefixed to the disease as many had
already started to call it, like Spanish flu?
Even more intriguing is another word that has suddenly risen to fame is
Furlough. What the celebrities will not give to have such a visibility in such
a short span. The UK Chancellor announced on 20th of March “Employers
will be able to contact HMRC for a grant to cover most of the wages of people
who are not working but are furloughed and kept on payroll, rather than being
laid off.....”
After
this all the news channels started using this word ad nauseum. I got the contextual meaning of the word but I
was puzzled because it sounded like “Furlong”, a unit of length. Surely it
could not be that.
For
the next news bulletin I put the “subtitles” on, to get the spelling. It was spelt
“furlough” not “furlong”. I had never come across this word. Looked it up on the net, where else? It
originates from Dutch verlof meaning permission ( ver- for, lof
–permission).
In
UK it was used in past in Armed Forces to describe persons who were given
permission to go on leave and was also used for the Christian missionaries who
returned back home on leave from their postings abroad.
Apparently
in USA it is a common word in regular use, almost as a posh synonym to laying
off employees for an undefined period or forever, with or without any wage!
The chancellor in UK used “furlough” to imply
that the workers are not laid off but they still remain in job and will receive
a salary. If employers could not pay their salary due to loss of income from
lockdown, the govt will pay a substantial part of it till the lockdown is
relaxed or lifted.
So
for now the furloughed are technically in job and can meet their day to day
essential expenditure. It has been a lifeline for many citizens. It has prevented much worry and misery. It did make the people more compliant
to lockdown rules.
Whether
all the workers will be taken back when the lockdown finishes is not assured. If
the businesses do not bounce back furlough may come to mean just a fancy word
for laying off.
Furlough changes its meaning with changing environment and the shifting intention of the employer! It is a chameleon at best and a weasel at worst.
