Re: Actual Slur

[Arlen P Walker <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>]

I am all in favor of not using any term of denigration in technical docs. (Or
other docs, for that matter.) What I don't understand is why the fact that a
misinformed victim of educational malpractice can possibly miscontrue the
meaning of a term should therefore *also* disqualify a term. If we start making
decisions on those grounds, is there any term we reliably *can* use?

I mean, it's quite possible for someone ignorant of the meaning of a word to
decide on their own that the term is a racial, ethnic or other slur. Can we no
longer call an apple a fruit because someone may think that eating apples makes
one gay, and that we are denigrating gays by using such a term? The word
"denigrate," even, contains the same offensive sounds. Is it also to be
considered off-limits?

Communication needs to be clear, that is paramount. If a particular term is the
best one to use, the most apt, the most understandable to our audience, then I
think we have not only the right, but the obligation to use it.

We've noted before the connotations to "master/slave" are, in some contexts,
unpleasant. But when describing some electronic circuits, or some photographic
setups, it's impossible to produce an accurate description that the expert
practitioners of the arts will approve, without using those terms. (For the
curious, the photographic context of "slave" typically refers to secondary
flash units which are triggered by the primary one, sometimes via electrical
connection and sometimes via sensing the light of the first flash.)

 It should also be noted that the words "primary" and "secondary" are used by
me in this context to explain this to non-photographers; a professional
photographer would give me a puzzled look before making the mental connection
between "secondary" and "slave flashes." And that's the point. The puzzled look
would indicate I had done a poor job in communicating, despite my attempt to
avoid offending someone's sensibilities.

The bottom line is the art of communication is a balancing act. No one does it
perfectly. Everything is a trade-off. All we can do is know our audience and
communicate with them in terms they can understand, in terms they use every
day. I'm sure that no matter how well we try to do this we will fail to
communicate with someone,  offend someone, or both. It's a guarantee.


Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
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