Kate Yoder

The importance of translating emergency warnings is often a lesson learned too late.

You expect to see the phrase natural disaster all over the news when hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic explosions, floods, or fires cause a lot of deaths and property damage. This fire season, however, politicians and other people are beginning to ditch natural disaster for phrases that are more specific — and more accurate.

CEO Bernard Looney calls oil “socially challenged.”

The pandemic gripping the planet has been compared to a “black swan” event, a danger so rare that it catches people unawares. But given that plenty of experts predicted a pandemic was bound to happen eventually, such a disaster is better described as a “gray rhino” — a highly likely and obvious danger that gets ignored.