My general theory since 1971 has been that the word is literally a virus, and that it has not been recognised as such because it has achieved a state of relatively stable symbiosis with its human host . . .
Source: The Adding Machine, Ten Years and a Billion Dollars (1985).
-- William S Burroughs, (Feb 5 1914-1997), US writer; He was a chief spokesman for the beat movement, 1950s; wrote Naked Lunch, 1959.