Re: technical terms overhaul
On Sunday, 21 June 2020 06:11:58 -04 Rob van der Putten wrote:
> Hi there
>
> On 19/06/2020 21:14, Eike Lantzsch wrote:
> > On the danger of starting a flame war ...
> > thinking about the article by Gunnar Wolf on Planet Debian
> >
> > instead of "whitelist" and "blacklist" I would like to propose the terms:
> > "allowlist" and "rejectlist"
> > instead of (for example on disk drives) "master" and "slave" I like to
> > propose the terms:
> > "lead" and "lag" which are e.g. used when electrically managing two pumps
> > working on the same hydraulic circuit.
> >
> > What do you think?
>
> How about parent, child, kill, zombie, cooked, raw, sane.
> Male, female, bisex connectors.
> Red and black.
> In a classic concurrent server, a client connects. The parent creates a
> child. The child does all the work (child labour). After the work is
> done the child commits suicide or gets killed by the parent.
>
> These metaphors are not necessarily very nice. The main thing is that
> they are clear.
>
>
> Regards,
> Rob
Hi also,
Yep, it is true that working on the symptoms does not cure the malady.
The terms white for good/acceptable and black for bad/unacceptable are not the
problem. The problem is that those terms with exact this connotation are
applied to human beings not for what they do as individuals but to exclude
them from privileges or to look down upon them. Debian however will have a
hard time to change the world in that respect. It can only reflect another way
of thinking by adjusting its technical terms. If the change of technical terms
without also changing the thinking is worthwhile to do, I don't know. Language
is revealing and serves to convey thoughts and feelings. I think, however,
that it is necessary to avoid the "language of the fiend"[1]. If we change the
language it might change the mind little by little - or not at all. Depends on
which influences on a person or group of persons is stronger. ("For mere
oppression may make a wise one act crazy, ..."[2])
Actually, on the other hand, changing the technical terms might rob
underprivileged people of the oportunity to pinpoint the offending acts/
thinking and that would surely be worse.
Kind regards
Eike
[1] https://ids-pub.bsz-bw.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/9127
I don't know about the availability of the book in English. Even the term
"Sprache des Unmenschen" is difficult to translate.
[2] Finding out where the citations are from, I leave as an exercise to the
reader - it should be easy. Yes, I checked it. It is easy.
--
Eike Lantzsch ZP6CGE
[2] "Again I turned my attention to all the acts of oppression that go on
under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and there was no one to
comfort them. And their oppressors had the power, and there was no one to
comfort them."
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