Health

Targeting is defined by the dictionary as a means of selecting an object of attention or attack. Targeting is a marketing tool that identifies a target audience and directly advertises products to them through various channels. For example, a company could target reruns of The Golden Girls or The Mary Tyler Moore Show for products such as Medicare or AARP designed for an older audience. Those versed in online video games may recognize targeting as a strategy where one player continuously attacks the same person during the contest. Some may be familiar with the term targeting as it relates to football.

A New York Times reporter in August of 2020 coined the term twindemic to describe the concern for an increase in both flu (influenza) and COVID-19 during the winter months of 2020.  The good news is that a twindemic never occurred in 2020 but the word stuck. Twindemic is a portmanteau word. A portmanteau is when words are blended together to form a new meaning. The words are not combined together like starfish but rather are a mash of words. The word smog is a portmanteau mash up of smoke and fog that has become part of our vernacular.