> grandfather
What do you call your dad's dad then?
What do you call your dad's dad then?
A “grandfather” clause, “grandfather” policy or “grandfathering” in IT s a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from the new rule are said to have grandfather rights, acquired rights, or to have been grandfathered in.
Why it’s problematic:
“Grandfathering” or “grandfather clause” was used as a way to exempt some people from a change because of conditions that existed before the change (e.g., we’ve grandfathered some users on an unlimited data plan.”) “Grandfather clause” originated in the American South in the 1890s as a way to defy the 15th Amendment and prevent black Americans from voting.
> Brown bags trace back to the “brown paper bag test,” which was traditionally used to judge skin color by certain African-American sororities and fraternities. References to a “brown bag” when we are really referencing a get-together over lunch surfaces an ugly period of American history that can alienate and offend people.
> (no can do) What might seem like a folksy, abbreviated version of “I can’t do it” is actually an imitation of Chinese Pidgin English. The phrase dates from the mid-nineteenth to early-twentieth centuries, an era when Western attitudes towards the Chinese were markedly racist.
> Using the word “pow wow” is cultural misappropriation, and ultimately racist.
> Referring to something as your spirit animal is cultural appropriation.
Some of these are pretty wild.
Some of this feels like someone tried really hard to find problems that didn’t exist and fix them.
That's how a lot of people feel about master/slave and black/white.
You have the word "master". It has at least two meanings in standard English and an additional one for technical jargon. Let's call these concepts owner/slave, expert/apprentice, and primary/secondary.
Even though owner/slave and primary/secondary are different concepts, the technical jargon makes the unfortunate reference the owner/slave meaning because of the use of the word "slave". It's difficult to defense the use of master/slave in this context.
The master in the expert/apprentice concept could be called leader, expert, or teacher and no one would have a problem with that.
This distinction is where people start getting upset.
I'd argue most technical people didn't even give a second thought to master/slave and for them they never considered it to be anything other than primary/secondary because owner/slave is no longer common use and hasn't been for a while. Besides, US Civil War was more than 150 years ago! Who gives a shit?
Well... people do because the effects of that war still affect our society and no one agrees on how to fix it. Removing problematic phrasing from our language as part of that makes sense. No one agrees on that either.
Therefore, by not using these words, you're reminded of the context. Any time somebody notices you substituting a phrase and they know why, they will be reminded of the context.
Like all self-censorship, it immerses the speaker in the truth while they trip overthemselves trying not to say that thing.
It's like saying, "Don't think about elephants." Now everybody is thinking about it.
About the elephant in the room you mean?
You can call your grandfather like you wish. You can also call stuff black.