plague rat

English

Etymology

Modern sense coined during the COVID-19 pandemic as a reference to rats being a common carrier of disease, possibly also looking at the role of rats in the Black Plague and influenced by the use of "rat" as a derogatory insult in general.

Noun

plague rat (plural plague rats)

1. A rat which acts as a vector of the plague; a sewer rat.
   • 1903 February 8, The Truth, Sydney, page 3, column 4:

     She was found to be one of the type of white women whose nasal organs appear never to have been developed, and who take to the loathsome Mongolian and his filthy hovel as blithely as a plague rat to a sewer.

2. (derogatory, neologism) Someone who refuses to follow anti-pandemic rules and guidelines or even takes actions, such as attending unnecessary events, that promote the spread of illness.
   • 2020 September 14, Ezra Lloyd, “Meet Sean Feucht: The Plague Rat Throwing ‘Worship Protests’ to Maskless Audiences Across The Country”, in Salt‎^[1]:

     This Plague Rat is planning superspreader events across the country and complaining that he and all of his prosperity gospel pals are “under attack”.

   • 2021 July 23, Ed Hutcheson, “Letters: Take your medicine - Relearn the lessons of the 1600's”, in The Palm Beach Post‎^[2]:

     It’s a simple concept. You’re either contributing to humanity’s fight against this pestilence or you’re a plague rat. Don’t be a plague rat.

   • 2022 January 2, Joel Maxwell, “I won't, can't, go home this summer”, in Sunday Star-Times, Wellington, New Zealand, page 14:

     People are waxing their surfboards, or whatever surf-people do, waxing their bodies, polishing up their summer reading lists, and googling sangria recipes: preparing to live their best plague-rat lives. This whole thing is crazy, and makes me uneasy.