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| 'Master' and 'slave': Tech terms face scrutiny amid anti-racism efforts |
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| coppice:
--- Quote from: dunkemhigh on June 23, 2020, 02:41:48 pm --- --- Quote ---But I think COON cheese will get away without change since it was named after the inventor. --- End quote --- The people kicking up a fuss won't know that, so it won't make any difference. What might is that they'll be too young to have come across the word in general usage before, so it won't act as a trigger. --- End quote --- Wasn't someone prominent fired last year for saying niggardly? Ironic really, when it means mean spirited. It seems we now have to placate people who don't understand English very well. |
| james_s:
--- Quote from: tom66 on June 23, 2020, 07:56:32 am ---Are we going to ban the term "coloured wire" in case it offends people who remember pre-civil-rights times when black people were called similar terms? --- End quote --- It's "wire of color" now, didn't you get the memo? |
| Gregg:
--- Quote from: james_s on June 23, 2020, 05:28:24 pm --- --- Quote from: tom66 on June 23, 2020, 07:56:32 am ---Are we going to ban the term "coloured wire" in case it offends people who remember pre-civil-rights times when black people were called similar terms? --- End quote --- It's "wire of color" now, didn't you get the memo? --- End quote --- I would think that the majority of the socially outraged crowds generally are ignorant of wiring in general. But maybe we could start a new trend. For example, green is often designated for grounded wires; doesn’t orange feel the stigma of discrimination? |
| SkyMaster:
--- Quote from: tom66 on June 23, 2020, 07:56:32 am ---Are we going to ban the term "coloured wire" in case it offends people who remember pre-civil-rights times when black people were called similar terms? --- End quote --- Black, yellow, white and brown wires need to be banned, because choosing one particular colour over the others would be a demonstration of racism ;) :) |
| TimFox:
--- Quote from: coppice on June 23, 2020, 04:08:37 pm --- --- Quote from: dunkemhigh on June 23, 2020, 02:41:48 pm --- --- Quote ---But I think COON cheese will get away without change since it was named after the inventor. --- End quote --- The people kicking up a fuss won't know that, so it won't make any difference. What might is that they'll be too young to have come across the word in general usage before, so it won't act as a trigger. --- End quote --- Wasn't someone prominent fired last year for saying niggardly? Ironic really, when it means mean spirited. It seems we now have to placate people who don't understand English very well. --- End quote --- I wouldn't be surprised about problems with "niggardly". The word comes from Old Norse, related to "meager" or "miser", nothing to do with race or color, but it sounds horrible to the untutored ear. There were some academic controversies before and after 2000 (mostly complaints by people unaware of the word's meaning), which led to rejections of "speech codes" at some universities due to misuse of these complaints. There may be a new problem with racists using the word just to bait others. The other N-word comes from Latin words for the color, through the romance languages, into English. |
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