this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023
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Thats not the only definition though. It's clearly the intended one, but it's possible to make someone think of other definitions when a word pops up.
And it's not too hard to go "Oh, I get why alternate definitions might make people uncomfortable, even if I have no issue with it." And if you can see why someone might be uncomfortable in a situation, and it's zero effort to avoid that situation... why not?
Unless you're intentionally trying to not understand, or lack empathy and genuinely can't understand why words with alternate definitions heavily linked to slavery might make people uncomfortable, it feels pretty self explanatory.
I'll give Linus a pass, because linux kernel is probably the most widely accessed repo out there, and changing defaults and standards can have an actual impact on third party tooling.
I genuinely can’t understand why words with alternate definitions linked to slavery might make people uncomfortable. It unintentionally reminds you bad things in history, and? Should we stop using words like "Nazi" or "War" too? Can we all stop using "death" while we're at it? It reminds me the mortal nature of human
@lowleveldata In general, I would say yes, it’s better not to use “Nazi” as a metaphor for otherwise everyday activities where there are plenty of unobjectionable alternatives.
I don’t know that trying to divorce it from context and find a general rule is particularly helpful, though. It’s not just “alternate” definitions, it’s the primary definition for most people that the industry adopted.
@lowleveldata I am fully aware that most who use it regularly probably have recontextualized it by default, but why not be more inclusive to those who might be put off by it when we have perfectly cromuoent another options?
Because that's a theory that could be applied to any words. We're catering to some imaginary person ("who might be put off") so it's basically devil's proof.