It makes me sad when a secondary meaning, which does not even overcome the main meaning in usage, becomes an obstacle for the normal use of a word. It's like seeing a rainbow as a sexualized symbol not fit for children, because it also happens to be used by LGBTQ+ community. (BTW, since you're a Brit: did people stop using the word "fag" to refer to a cigarette?)
I mean, it is sad. But unfortunately that is what happened with "master", "slave", "whitelist", and "blacklist". No reasonable person construed these as offensive or having any implications about the wider world. But there are people in our profession who are determined to take offense where none is given, and unfortunately they got their way.
Well, "slave" has a pretty direct main meaning of an oppressed person doing forced labor. The word "master" is much milder in this regard (compare "master's degree" and "slave's degree"). The word "nonce" in normal usage seems even more removed from any pejorative secondary meanings.
That didn't stop people from throwing a fit over master-slave terminology in software (having nothing to do with slavery), going so far as to rename long-standing development branch names, as well as put significant effort into removing such terms from the code itself and any documentation.
Well, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonce_word
It makes me sad when a secondary meaning, which does not even overcome the main meaning in usage, becomes an obstacle for the normal use of a word. It's like seeing a rainbow as a sexualized symbol not fit for children, because it also happens to be used by LGBTQ+ community. (BTW, since you're a Brit: did people stop using the word "fag" to refer to a cigarette?)
> did people stop using the word "fag" to refer to a cigarette?
Yes, seems so. I've not heard that in at least a decade
I mean, it is sad. But unfortunately that is what happened with "master", "slave", "whitelist", and "blacklist". No reasonable person construed these as offensive or having any implications about the wider world. But there are people in our profession who are determined to take offense where none is given, and unfortunately they got their way.
Well, "slave" has a pretty direct main meaning of an oppressed person doing forced labor. The word "master" is much milder in this regard (compare "master's degree" and "slave's degree"). The word "nonce" in normal usage seems even more removed from any pejorative secondary meanings.
More to your point, yes, taking offense can be turned into a weapon: https://nassimtaleb.org/2016/08/intolerant-wins-dictatorship...
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We don't need to bring this kind of thing up. We're not school children and most of us are technology professionals, so the meaning is clear.
These guidelines are relevant here:
Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents. Omit internet tropes.
Please don't pick the most provocative thing in an article or post to complain about in the thread. Find something interesting to respond to instead.
Please don't complain about tangential annoyances—e.g. ... name collisions ... . They're too common to be interesting.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
American hegemony, and all that.
In the US they spell it as nonze.
No we don't.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Context
That didn't stop people from throwing a fit over master-slave terminology in software (having nothing to do with slavery), going so far as to rename long-standing development branch names, as well as put significant effort into removing such terms from the code itself and any documentation.