Cloistering?

Cyn, your post does offer a diversion from discussions of cancelled trips and flattening curves.

"Social distancing" suggests to me more than physical separation--the reducing or ending of social relationships including communication--but it is easier to say than "physical distancing".

I suppose the difference between "self quarantine" and "sheltering in place" is volition. The former suggests I have a choice. The latter, as currently used, suggests a government order rather than recommendation and a "hunkering down". "Cloistering" certainly sounds more pleasant, but obviously has some religious overtones and a hint of idyllic surroundings.

Social Distancing is an awkward term. It makes me think of people who decide not to talk to their mothers-in-law or shunning. Physical distancing would be more accurate.

The word distancing itself is also a problem for me. It not only means to move away from a place, but an so to avoid association with a particular person or idea. As is in the Senater distanced himself from the White House's statement.
But neither meaning conveys staying about 6 feet from others let alone washing surfaces and hands continuously.

I don't mind the term self quarantine. Quarentine doesn't imply punishment, it simply means isolated by an authority until no longer contagious. Self quarantine sounds like what it is, a good deed done by a contagious person. But I'd like volunteer quarantine better for people who have or think they have Covid 19 but haven't been officially asked to quarantine and honor or pledged quarantine for those who have agreed to quarantine after being asked to do so by a doctor or authority.

What I'd really like is a nasty term for those who have been asked to self quarantine but don't and people who are not social distancing when they should. Covid Marys? Quarentine Shirkers?

I started using "cloistering" when this started in CA last weekend.
It frames it in a way that feels like I am buying into it voluntarily rather than by force, and it sounds a little more elegant!
I'll have to plant an herb garden and start walking in circles in my backyard if it continues too long... ;-)

I don't think you're going to win this battle, but I appreciate the sentiment 🙂. Social distancing and shelter-in-place have been textbook terminology in the emergency preparedness business for many years. Technical terms that get passed into the vernacular. Its "hunker down" (sometimes transformed into "bunker down") that I object to.

Stan, what is your objection to hunker down? I've used that term several times in the last few days. If there's something offensive about it I would truly like to know.

Thanks for everyone’s input. Whatever you call it, if still means being closed up at home. “Self” maybe does convey more responsibility than “regular” quarantine, although it seems unnecessary to tack on that modifier.

And “shelter” already implies taking refuge, so the in-place isn’t helpful. Or do some people want to shelter-on-the move?

Well, time to check my toilet paper inventory again, just to pass the time 🧻🧻🧻🧻🧻🧻🧻🧻😄

Much more refined nomenclature, but how many would recognize the directive.

@andrea, no, its not offensive, I just think its an ugly term. My objection isn't too serious. Hunker's basic meaning is to squat or crouch, neither of which I'm doing.

My husband and I have “sequestered” ourselves. We have voluntarily isolated ourselves in our home to keep from encountering someone with the coronavirus.

Karen

Seems to me the current national use of these terms will overwhelm any previous uses. I don’t know if other countries are using the same terms or not, even other English-speaking countries.
About “shelter in place” which now affects me in California, i have seen that other states or areas are using “stay at home” or other terms.
More relevant to me than the terminology is the content of “place”. For me, this is pretty easy, as long as I stay healthy. I live by myself in a cozy little house with a pleasant garden, and have plenty of food and drink, books and TV, computer and tablet, and enough financial resources, including credit cards, to get by for an extended period. Many of you on this Forum are probably in similar situations. But what about others with much more difficult, even precarious “places” and situations: tiny apartments, maybe many floors up, many children staying at home around the clock, no computers to use for communication or learning, tense or even violent family or neighbor relationships, mental health issues, drug dependency, no outside space, minimal income coming in, and those with no “place”, living in their cars, in shelters, on someone else’s couch, or under bridges, or in jail, prison or other detention centers. Life for many people in these situations could really explode or implode during extended staying at home. I have concerns but no real solutions to offer.

Believe it or not, some people around me are scratching their heads here in California trying to understand the meaning of directives coming from various public officials.

My 2 cents, keep it simple. "Stay home" or "I am staying home."

I would go mad if I couldn't get out to hike, run, exercise, do yard work, and just be outside. I am unable to sit around for very long.

For me hell on Earth would be quarantined for two weeks (or two days) in a cruise ship inside cabin.

Mary likes those secluded cabins in the Blue Ridge Mountains that are close to trails and little else, but after a day I'm bored to tears. The good part is we get in really good shape hiking for hours per day.

Here in LA it’s being referred to as a ‘safer at home’ order while the CA Governor says ‘stay at home.’