Re: Master/Slave

Subject: Re: Master/Slave
From: Chuck Martin <cmartin -at- SEEKERSOFT -dot- COM>
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 1997 17:00:42 -0700

Serious part of the response:

Much of the jargon in the computer and electronics field was created by
engineers who perhaps didn't understand the power that words have. We
writers who do understand this seek ways to find words that do not have
negative connotations in other areas and words that don't generally have
multiple meanings.

"In the 1990s U.S., "abort" probably has a higher emotional content than
"master/slave." Howver, as we evolve as a society, and as our language
evolves with us, we can work to find terminology that is both accurate and
emotionless.

I have to admit that I have been a strong advocate of eliminating the word
"abort" fro mdocumentation while not noticing the potential emotions in the
"master/slave" pair. We *can* come up with better words--without labelling
ourselves as "PC" and without getting too convoluted--that are just as
accurate. So why don't we? Let us participate in the evolution of language,
especially technical language.


Lighthearted part of the response:

I found this discussion rather timely, understanding multiple contexts,
with just a week and a half to go until the Folsom Street Fair in San
Francisco. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the Folsom Street
Fair is a celebration of the wilder side of relationships and sexuality,
and where many people display variations on the types of relationships,
including people who put themselves in roles of either "master" or "slave."

This particular subculture embraces those terms willingly, similar to the
way the gay community has "taken back" the term "queer" for internal,
self-referencing use. (On a brief serious note, it's a good example of
using the correct term for the correct audience.)

While I'll be enjoying the Folson Street Fair with a friend, neither one of
use will immerse ourselves in the whole "master/slave" thing there. To
each his/her own....
--
"You don't look American"
"Everyone looks American, because Americans are from everywhere"
- Doonesbury
Chuck Martin
Technical Writer, Seeker Software, Inc | Personal
cmartin -at- seekersoft -dot- com | writer -at- grin -dot- net
www.seekersoft.com | www.grin.net/~writer

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