Hi Richard, Sure, it's a silly example, but it makes about as much sense as using "slave" to mean "quiet". Also, there is no "--master" option so it's not exactly the master/slave terminology here either.
My only point is that I think it's very distasteful to give such a needlessly awful name to an option in what has become a very broadly used piece of software. It would be good to update it, I think. If anyone knows how to actually pass this on to the R developers/contributors, please let me know. Thanks, Ben On Fri, 20 Sep 2019 at 05:14, Richard O'Keefe <rao...@gmail.com> wrote: > Nobody would use "stentorian" as an alternative to "verbose" because they > mean very different things. > "verbose" means "using many words" > "stentorian" means "talking very loudly, like Stentor, whose voice was > as powerful > as fifty voices of other men". > You can be verbose while talking in a whisper. > You can be stentorian while being laconic. > > If you don't like the word "slave", the option "--silent" is there for you > to use. > > The "master-slave" design pattern is in hundreds of books (although I note > that > Erlang uses different terminology). Your car has a master hydraulic > cylinder and > slave cylinders. The analogy is pervasive in technology. See a very > short list > at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master/slave_(technology) > which ends with "Global Language Monitor > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Language_Monitor> found the term > "master/slave" to be the most > egregious example of political correctness > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_correctness> in 2004, and named > it the most politically > incorrect term of that year." > > The one thing "slave" does not mean in technology is any kind of human > being. > > On Thu, 19 Sep 2019 at 21:51, Benjamin Lang <lang...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Dear Richard, >> >> Thank you, that’s interesting. There is also something called an >> “etymological fallacy”. I think current usage is more useful here than the >> “science of truth”, i.e. the Ancient Greek idea that the (sometimes >> inferred) derivation of a word allows us to grasp “the truth of it”. >> >> In current usage, a “server” is someone who brings you dishes in a >> restaurant. A “client” is a customer. A “slave” is a human being forced to >> perform work under duress and considered nothing more than a machine, say a >> dishwasher or a tractor. And in some regions, this echoes on and is >> offensive and hurtful to some. >> >> A new user, wanting to reduce output from R, would probably reach for >> “-q” or “—quiet”. This makes sense in the same way that “—stentorian” is >> not a good alternative to “—verbose”. >> >> Best, >> Ben >> >> On 19 Sep 2019, at 10:55, Richard O'Keefe <rao...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> One of my grandfathers was from Croatia. Guess what the word "slave" is >> derived >> from? That's right, Slavs. This goes back to the 9th century. And then >> of course >> my grandfather's people were enslaved by the Ottoman empire, which was >> only defeated >> a little over a hundred years ago. My other grandfather was from the >> British isles, >> where to this day followers of the same prophet are enslaving people like >> me >> (except for being female). So I'm sorry, but I'm not impressed. >> >> How many computers are "servers"? There's that whole client-server thing. >> Guess what "server" comes from? That's right, the Latin word "servus", >> which >> means guess what? You got it again: "slave". Are we to abolish the word >> "server"? What about the word "client"? Ah, that's part of the >> client-patron >> system from Rome, so what about the patriarchy, eh? >> >> We are dealing with something called "the genetic fallacy". >> "The genetic *fallacy* (also known as the *fallacy of origins* ...) >> is a *fallacy* of irrelevance that is based solely on someone's >> or something's history, *origin*, or source rather than its >> current meaning or context." (Wikipedia.) >> >> Context matters. >> >> >> >> On Thu, 19 Sep 2019 at 17:10, Abby Spurdle <spurdl...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> > Personally I much prefer backwards compatibility to political >>> correctness. >>> >>> I agree with Rolf, here. >>> And as someone that's planning to write a Linux Terminal Emulator, in >>> the medium-term future, I *strongly* defend this approach. >>> >>> And to the original poster. >>> Haven't you seen The Matrix? >>> (Second best movie ever, after the Shawshank Redemption). >>> >>> I would prefer the technology to be my slave, than I be a >>> prisoner/slave to the technology. >>> >>> ______________________________________________ >>> R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see >>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >>> PLEASE do read the posting guide >>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >>> >> [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.