Re: Incorrect use of "it's" in package control files -- file mass bug?
Brian Nelson <pyro@debian.org> writes:
>> How is "asian" "bizarre and idiotic"? It's just as accurate in this usage
>> as the old term (that is, not very [and both are context specific]), but
>> lacks the pejorative sense -- all the asians I know happily use "asian" to
>> describe themselves, whereas this is hard to imagine with "oriental".
>> Morever, it's natural sounding and short (unlike, say, "person of color").
>
> Because it's used in exactly the same way Oriental was--to refer to
> people from a select few countries in Eastern Asia.
It's (1) at least _as good_ as `oriental' (both are inaccurate when used
in this way, but in practice it doesn't matter very much, as the meaning
is pretty clear from context), and (2) lacks the pejorative sense that
the latter had.
So it seems a net positive change.
> The intention is fine. It's the word chosen that is the problem. It's
> like insisting the work "European" be used to refer to people with big
> noses.
Ok, if there were a powerful committee that decided new english words,
maybe they should be more careful (but there's not).
-Miles
--
`...the Soviet Union was sliding in to an economic collapse so comprehensive
that in the end its factories produced not goods but bads: finished products
less valuable than the raw materials they were made from.' [The Economist]
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