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Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

itcommunity.stanford.edu

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Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#91

Post by blep_ »

dantheman wrote: post #57
dj_gitmo wrote: post #29

There would be less emphasis on symbolic politics, such as this project, if we could make material progress on social inequity. It does not cost any money to change language. It would be difficult and costly to seriously reinvest in people who have been left behind. For example, if it was politically possible guarantee schools in poor neighbourhoods were funded just as well as schools in wealthy neighbourhoods, do yo…

The problem with schools in poor neighborhoods has nothing to do with funding. You can see charter schools in the same neighborhood which get less funding radically outperform.

> You can see charter schools in the same neighborhood which get less funding radically outperform.

Per student, or total? Legitimately asking, because this is surprising to me.

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#92

Post by macrolime »

kepler1 wrote: post #8

I mean, if you ever wanted to get on the bandwagon of why we have so many college administrators responsible for raising the cost of college and creating work for themselves by stoking culture wars, just read through the list on that page. ------- "> Instead of: Philippine Islands > Consider using: Philippines or the Republic of the Philippines > Context: The term is politically incorrect and denotes colonialism. Som…

Right, so instead of this: Bob used to think of neural networks as black boxes, but now he's working on figuring out how they actually work.

We should say: Bob used to think of neural networks as flight recorders, but now he's working on figuring out how they actually work.

That obviously has the exact same meaning /s

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#93

Post by _fat_santa »

When it comes to technical writing, many of these replacements just wont work. Take "user" for example which they want you to replace with "client", so "system user" will turn into "system client" which would not work because "clients" are something else entirely in programming.

Another one is "man-in-the-middle" which is often used to describe MITM attacks. Sure "person in the middle attack" might de-gender the phrase, but everyone know the MITM acronym and putting PITM instead would only confuse a reader.

And that last one is "submit" should be changed to "process", well those things are totally different when talking about a server that you "submit" things to and that then "processes" the thing.

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#94

Post by sovietmudkipz »

Does anyone have any good alternative to saying "dad joke?"

The term "dad" in "dad joke" excludes anyone who doesn't, is incapable, or chooses not to have children (procreating?) and who also identifies (explicitly or implicitly) as a member of the category "male" (a vestigial term from the sex-assigned binary heterodoxy).

I don't think calling "dad jokes" just "jokes" is precise enough language because people typically are trying to refer to a genre of joke when they use the term.

Maybe "cringe funnies?" Although "cringe" is more of a slang term from the internet and isn't robust enough to survive into perpetuity...

I'm actually serious... What are some good alternatives?

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#95

Post by bitwize »

Glyptodon wrote: post #37

Some of these suggestions are so euphemistic I wouldn't necessarily know what someone using them is trying to say... Plenty of cases where the client isn't actually the user, plenty of cases where saying something is "surprising" doesn't give the same subtext as saying something is "insane..." and that's just scratching the surface. GF is 100% Mexican descent, first gen US citizen, w/ advanced degree and she despises…

I'll never forget how a Mexican on Twitter replied to those who use "Latinx": "Fuck off, pendejx."

Your girlfriend's attitude generally reflects those of Hispanics in the US, most of whom prefer to be referred to as "Hispanic". The rationale behind Latinx is that it covers both Latino and Latina, while also acknowledging the trans/nonbinary/genderqueer contingent. But I think the term "Hispanic" covers everybody as well...

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#96

Post by markus_zhang »

sovietmudkipz wrote: post #94

Does anyone have any good alternative to saying "dad joke?" The term "dad" in "dad joke" excludes anyone who doesn't, is incapable, or chooses not to have children (procreating?) and who also identifies (explicitly or implicitly) as a member of the category "male" (a vestigial term from the sex-assigned binary heterodoxy). I don't think calling "dad jokes" just "jokes" is precise enough language because people typica…

middle-aged joke

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#97

Post by yarg »

Died by suicide?

Suicide is a self-inflicted act; committed suicide is correct - and I say this as a man living on the edge.

To diminish that is to refuse to accept the underlying cause, which is a bad fucking way to stop it from happening again (or at least to someone else).

This whole damned list is retarded.

Most of the elements aren't even accurate; they're euphemisms.

Someone with OCD isn't 'detail-oriented' they're detail obsessed.

> walk-in: Ableist language that trivializes the experiences of people living with disabilities.

Come on. Seriously? Anyone who is offended by that is offended for a hobby.

Re: Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative

#99

Post by alpaca128 »

> on the warpath - mad, on the offensive

So "sanity", "crazy" and "handicapped" are offensive language, but "mad" is a preferred alternative for something else?

> victim - person who has experienced..., person who has been impacted by...

Person who has been impacted by murder? Many of those suggestions are so verbose and impersonal.

Those alternatives would just become the new slurs, just like people are called Karen nowadays this list would make people call others "boring" instead of retard. And then we have one problem more: how do you then call something boring without sounding offensive? I find this list very unenlightened.

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