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Comment by labrador | Hacker News Reader

I'm an American of Irish and Scottish descent with some travellers in my background. Never heard this word as a slur, only as "I like to tinker with machines." Tinker as a slur hasn't travelled off the islands of Great Britain apparently.

Edit: I'm not changing my usage of the word. I like to tinker.

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your usage is fine there too.

however, "the islands of Great Britain" is offensive to the Irish

Don't I know it. My Irish grandmother hated the British, but Northern Ireland is currently British - for now.

It is offensive to anyone who knows that Great Britain is one island. Maybe he meant the British Isles.

I suspect you're just not aware of how others consider the way you choose to speak: https://archive.is/WydpC

I'm very aware of how I speak which is why I have a good track record of not offending people. I change with the times e.g. I no longer refer to a car transmission as a tranny. So I know tinker as a slur is archaic. I've never heard anyone use it as a slur and think it would be counter productive to revive it as one.

You not hearing it doesn’t make it archaic. Tinker is still thrown at Travellers in Ireland, the UK, Australia, and elsewhere. Calling it “dead” just shows you your bubble, not reality.

Thinking Machines Lab and I are in Silicon Valley California. Are you suggesting that we should follow your provincial rules?

Read back your comment and apply it to an ethnic slur common in your locality.

We find the c-word c*nt highly offensive but that doesn't stop Australians from using it.

I think you're now being deliberately obtuse or trolling, if you can't understand the difference between naming a product an ethnic slur and the colloquial use of a swear word.

Authored by William Safire [1], who also authored the "In Event of Moon Disaster" speech [2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Safire

[2] https://www.archives.gov/files/presidential-libraries/events...

Interesting that you link to an article that has no issues with the word “tinker”.

Yes, it is, and 37 years later, it is no longer acceptable to use such terms.

On the contrary, it seems more acceptable now than 37 years ago - the “unacceptable” meaning that was already residual then (and not mentioned in the article at all!) is even more irrelevant today.

So you believe the slur is no longer used or something?

I think it's used less than 37 years ago in that sense - and it was not much of an issue back then (at least in the US, that article doesn't mention that tinker could be considered offensive while it talks about 'wetbacks').

You believe the slur is used now more than 37 years ago or something?

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