That helps explain why we should take the latest, less familiar viruses more seriously.
Does Huawei's latest look familiar?
Many of its bugbears, such as big companies that settle their bills late, are familiar to its peers in Kyoto or Cannes.
Still to come is a deal with President Suharto, of Indonesia, and his playboy son, plus a fur-patting encounter with a tiger, not to mention Kenny's acceptance of the Golden Pickaxe from the Gold Prospectors Association of America, before a late twist — familiar to anybody who followed the real Bre-X scandal — yanks the rug from under our feet.
The influence of the Roman Law and Aristotle, and of the culture of late antiquity familiar to the Fathers of the Church, also meant that ideas originating outside the framework of the Christian religion had an impact on religious thinking.
His visit to London is just the latest in the familiar Black roadshow: "Trust Honest Conrad – the scion of respectability".
Danielewski's latest book, The Familiar, Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May, finds the author up to his old tricks, only more so.
The details of the latest violence are familiar: groups armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades fought on residential streets, and militia members set fire to a security building.
When it comes to children's dictionaries, an Oxford spokesman noted during the latest row, words familiar to children at particular ages, commonly misspelled words, and curricular requirements also play a role.
The background to the latest plan is familiar, particularly with the scandal of Winterbourne View uncovered by BBC's Panorama in 2011, which highlighted both individual abuse and neglect, and raised awareness of the much wider issue of long-term hospitalisation.
