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The interesting part is that blacklist comes from the old times (in Europe), when employers had a little black book where they listed unreliable workers that should not get employment.
Had nothing to do with skin colour. Still doesn't.
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I know, but we're heading towards the point where "black" is automatically associated with "black people".
If it then has a negative connotation, like blacklist, it's considered racist.
At least that's how some simpletons think.
I remember reading about some angry feminist who was enraged that the word "female" contains the word "male" and that this was just another example of the patriarchy.
Then some (male) linguist totally roasted her because the two words are unrelated 
Perhaps we should teach etymology in schools so people know where some words come from 
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Sander Rossel wrote: Perhaps we should teach etymology in schools so people know where some words come from
Yes.
Sander Rossel wrote: I know, but we're heading towards the point where "black" is automatically associated with "black people".
Even worse in Portuguese.
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Sander Rossel wrote: Perhaps we should teach etymology in schools so people know where some words come from
People already know how to Google, they are just really good at glossing over the results that don't fit their agenda.
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You're assuming people are aware etymology exist 
But even if they did, you're probably right
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Yep. It was more a general observation rather than specific to your example of etymology.
I think there is a solid correlation between people who are popular on social media and people who don't care about facts. After all, you don't get many followers by trying to change people. Just tell them what they want to hear and they will love you forever.
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Sander Rossel wrote:
Perhaps we should teach etymology in schools so people know where some words come from
That is one of my great hobbies! But in my school days, when a teacher tried to explain the orgins of words and expressions, most of the kids were moaning "We don't care!"
I don't think that has changed very much. I brought up a daughter to be just as fascinated by it as I am myself, but when I asked about her classmates, she shook her head: They don't care about that stuff. Some cultures are far more language aware than others; I wouldn't be surprised if French kids love to dig up the roots of all sorts of words. Maybe upper class Englishmen. Maybe others. But very few from Scandinavia.
A recent example: In Norwegian, being "blakk" is to be broke. Void of money. A "blakk" horse is of course broke, in the monetary sense, but it is also of very light brown color, bordering to off-white. I was suspecting that being broke was a reference to Afro-Americans, who were frequenty broke, but that couldn't explain the "blakk" horse.
It turned out that the complexion, being broke and the color of the horse had indeed the same etymological background: The b-word originally meant "void of". The man being void of money, the horse so light that its hide is (almost) void of color, and the Afro-American so dark that his skin is void of color. I enjoy discovering such connections!
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What are we going to call our degrees?
Not only Master - Bachelor is offensive to unmarried people.
For computer science I guess we could introduce Bit and Byte degrees (and maybe Word, for Ph.D), but that doesn't go well in other disciplines. Introducing a Screw degree in Mechanical engineering is bound to offend quite a lot of people. In economy we could use Dime and Quarter degrees.
Yet, the best would be to have a single set of terms for all. Maybe we could learn from sports and call it Bronze, Silver and Gold degrees? Or would that be offensive to those whose complexion is like bronze? Would gold be offensife to rich people? Or maybe gold brings up the apartheid years in South Africa, where lots of highly pigmented people were working under bad conditions in the gold mines?
Maybe we could call them F and C and K degrees.
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Ain't that the truth 
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Member 7989122 wrote: Maybe we could call them F and C and K degrees.
No U degree? 
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Sander Rossel wrote: I've actually read that multiple companies are replacing blacklist and whitelist with reject list and approve list or some such
So, they are explicitly trying to state that black = reject, and white = approve?
Stupid people: If you can't be bothered to teach them, join them.
I guess that just boils down to one of the fundamental problems: people are very lazy.
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You can find arguments agains using black/white in Dave A. Ricks - Big Business Blunders: Mistakes in Multinational Marketing/dp/0256028508[^]: One European vendor going to Asia, focusing on an image of pure white, clean and sound. Only that in many Asian cultures, white color symbolizes death (the way black does in most Western cultures).
By that color codex, a whitelist should be a list of dead alternatives or proposals. Maybe blacklist/whitelist isn't perfect in an international context.
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A good point.
But for a logical thinking person there is no problem, because whitelist is not "white list". It's a single word that means something specific, so the fact that "white" is a colour should not even be a consideration. The fact that the term may have originated based on colours is irrelevant to the meaning or usage.
Also, is anything perfect. Someone can always find a flaw. People love arguing and they can find an argument in damn near anything.
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Sander Rossel wrote: pinklist is insulting to the LGBT+ community
Is that a problem for audio people who refer to "pink noise" (as well as "white noise")?
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Pink Noise, White Noise is interferance to a signal not only Audio but thats where it gets referenced the most.
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Kevin Marois wrote: WTH is wrong with people??
Have you looked around lately? The world has gone mad.
This is very minor compared to a lot of what is going on. It might actually be ingenious timing because this sounds so small compared to a lot of other demands out there.
Social Media - A platform that makes it easier for the crazies to find each other.
Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it.
Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.
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But the word "git" is OK?
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I'm shocked that "the usual crowd" isn't offended by it. I wonder what they think it really means?
TTFN - Kent
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This happened to me 15 years ago developing a distributed system. Primary control unit was the master, the others were slaves. Changed to master and expansion units. It's all about symbolism over substance.
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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If you have a problem with this then what is wrong with YOU?
Why are you so butt-hurt about some people wanting to use different terminology? That says far more about you than it does about them.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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PC gone mad and the people wanting to effect this are so precious that they are offended by a word. A bunch of snowflakes.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity -
RAH
I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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I'd say its about 50/50 for the topic at hand.
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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Rick York wrote: Why are you so butt-hurt about some people wanting to use different terminology?
If it was just "some people" preferring to use a different term then that wouldn't be an issue. But when a change is effectively forced upon everybody then there should be a decent reason to justify it. It's not like changes like this are easy and free. What about any 3rd party documentation on the process of using GitHub, or any website tutorial on how to use a "master" repo?
From the linked article:
Quote: "Such terminology not only reflects racist culture, but also serves to reinforce, legitimize, and perpetuate it,"
Seriously, how does anybody get from the word "master" to "racism"?
Even if GitHub explicitly made a statement along the lines of "we use the terms master and slave, because the process reminds us of how people used to enslave other people" - that still wouldn't even be racist.
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I can not believe this has to be explained to you. For you to argue against this means you are an active contributor to the problem.
I think this conversation has crossed the line of acceptability. Both this site's and mine. I'm out.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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Rick York wrote: I can not believe this has to be explained to you
So, explain it then?
If you think I am some sort of "ignorant racist" then here is your opportunity to fix me. Your chance to make one less "active contributor" to the problem, as you so presumptuously put it. Which by the way, is not a very nice label for you to be blindly throwing around at people you don't know.
Rick York wrote: I think this conversation has crossed the line of acceptability
I guess you mean you can't be bothered to have a mature, rational debate about the topic and would much rather convince yourself you are right by trying to end the conversation by acting like you are somehow above it all.
I fail to see how a discussion about the connections between 2 words crosses any lines. Sure, racism is a "hot topic" but do you not think people refusing to even hold an open and critical debate about it is perhaps part of the reason it even still exists?
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