Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Occurences of swearing in the Linux kernel source code over time

vidarholen.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 278 posts

Re: Occurences of swearing in the Linux kernel source code over time

#241

Post by bryanrasmussen »

kelnos wrote: post #217
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

//hack = I have found a way around the problem that was probably necessary to use and could even be arguably clever under the circumstances where a hack is required Example: When I suggested using data uri as source of iframe to get around domain security restrictions in FF and still allow you to click on links and scroll in iframe which using about: uri scheme did not (long story involving national security and iden…

Your definitions are entirely arbitrary and certainly not even remotely universally understood. I'd much rather a comment that succinctly but thoroughly describes what is going on and why a hack is necessary.

you're right, nobody that has ever written "stupid fucking hack" has ever followed that preamble with a description of why it was necessary.

Re: Occurences of swearing in the Linux kernel source code over time

#242

Post by globular-toast »

gsk22 wrote: post #139
jenny91 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, that is an unthinkably bad swearword for some reason.

That's heavily dependent on regional/cultural factors. Among a younger and (mostly) gayer demographic, the once-feared "C-word" is very commonly used, especially in its adjective form.

How do you use it as an adjective? The bad thing was always labelling someone with the word, but there isn't really any other way to use it.

Re: Occurences of swearing in the Linux kernel source code over time

#243

Post by arp242 »

ano-ther wrote: post #161
holowoodman wrote: post #2

Theory: the shift towards lesser swearwords is a sign of corporatization, making the linux source a soulless bland hellscape of confirmity.

> bland hellscape of conformity I see three reasons to use swearwords sparingly, even though they don’t particularly offend me. 1 Managing my own emotions. Most swearing is negative and that drags you down which is not very productive or fun. 2 Managing others‘ emotions as they burst out, which stresses the people around the swearer. 3 Some people just can’t say a fucking sentence without gratuitous swearing which ma…

Especially online it's just so easy to confuse or miscommunicate "fuck that :-)" and "fuck that grrr"

I don't think swearing is necessarily negative though; it can often be fairly neutral, or funny/positive. But again: in text it can be tricky.

Re: Occurences of swearing in the Linux kernel source code over time

#244

Post by arp242 »

alistairSH wrote: post #154
ctde wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the point being that there was a time (some greybeards might remember) where contributing to the linux kernel wasn't "work" but a fun hobby

Sure, but that time was nearly 30 years ago. Linux has been "mainstream" since at least August 1999.

Why August 1999? Seems quite specific?

Re: Occurences of swearing in the Linux kernel source code over time

#245

Post by arp242 »

holowoodman wrote: post #2

Theory: the shift towards lesser swearwords is a sign of corporatization, making the linux source a soulless bland hellscape of confirmity.

If you look at he numbers then the kernel was never all that swear-heavy.

68 instances of "fuck" at the peak in 2005, in how many million lines of code? And turns out 24 of those were in repeated instances of "IOC3 is fucking fucked" in the MIPS driver, so at least some of it is fairly "clustered" too.

Re: Occurences of swearing in the Linux kernel source code over time

#246

Post by [deleted] »

globular-toast wrote: post #242
gsk22 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's heavily dependent on regional/cultural factors. Among a younger and (mostly) gayer demographic, the once-feared "C-word" is very commonly used, especially in its adjective form.

How do you use it as an adjective? The bad thing was always labelling someone with the word, but there isn't really any other way to use it.

[deleted]

Re: Occurences of swearing in the Linux kernel source code over time

#247

Post by drw85 »

josephg wrote: post #223
dp-hackernews wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People take offense, whether the other person intentionally gave it or not. I choose not to be offended by anything what soever. Humor on the other hand is a lot harder to deal with.

I don’t think you understand why things are funny. Almost everything that gets a laugh in a comedy show isn’t funny because it’s clever. What happens is the comedian says something “obvious”. They say something that you were kinda already thinking - even if you weren’t consciously aware of it. We laugh because we’re acknowledged and feel seen for what we were already thinking, and when lots of people laugh it feels g…

I don't think this is true. Comedy is often times leading you down a somewhat obvious train of thought and then surprisingly diverting in a completely unexpected direction.

It's not that everyone in the audience knew exactly what the comedian was going to say, it's that the comedian made them think something and then surprised them with something funny or offensive that's completely different.

Re: Occurences of swearing in the Linux kernel source code over time

#248

Post by bogantech »

globular-toast wrote: post #242
gsk22 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's heavily dependent on regional/cultural factors. Among a younger and (mostly) gayer demographic, the once-feared "C-word" is very commonly used, especially in its adjective form.

How do you use it as an adjective? The bad thing was always labelling someone with the word, but there isn't really any other way to use it.

We Aussies have many ways to use it as a compliment

Sick cunt, Mad cunt, Good cunt Etc

Re: Occurences of swearing in the Linux kernel source code over time

#249

Post by thedanbob »

rybosome wrote: post #159
gspencley wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So "dicks 01" or "fuck me 01" instead of a bland "check 01" or whatever. For some reason, that seems much more unprofessional than a comment like "this code is shitty but works, need to clean up." Agreed. Context matters a lot. People say "shitty code" all the time. I don't see that as unprofessional. But "dicks01" I would probably change if I came across it in code. Not because I would find it offensive, but becau…

I have a very clear memory of offending someone with the use of the word “crap” years ago. As a kid I worked in a restaurant that sold Cincinnati-style chili - noodles with sweet chili and cheese on top. We were encouraged to offer customers who ordered a plain bowl of chili this noodle concoction instead. Late one night, I had a customer order a bowl of plain chili. I gave her the spiel I was supposed to, suggesting…

That sounds more like someone who was looking to be offended, not necessarily someone who finds "crap" offensive specifically.

Re: Occurences of swearing in the Linux kernel source code over time

#250

Post by Bender »

josephg wrote: post #222
pavel_lishin wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 3 Some people just can’t say a fucking sentence without gratuitous swearing which makes them sound fucking stupid. I think this is subjective.

It’s also incredibly cultural. Swearing in the workplace is much more normal here in Australia. In my first job at an American company, I was shocked how prissy people were about swearing. In my head I thought “these are adults, right? Why is everyone acting like a blushing teenager?”. I’m sure I sounded rough as guts to them. It took ages to learn to scale it back depending on who I was talking to. Swearing with som…

Similar thing in the US. I was in a company that merged with a company in Texas and several of the executives would use the F-word in every other sentence. HR asked if we were offended in California and I said that I personally don't care but would be nice if they would stop doing this on customer calls customers that pay millions of dollars per quarter and are professionals. Our new CEO showed up late to a meeting with a big customer wearing his biker outfit and he too swore a lot. In the end we lost a lot of customers from this. The CEO did not care, he was a Chicago mobster and expected everyone to kiss his butt.
Post reply on HN