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Language is organic and constantly changing. I used to insist on calling my drone, a remote controlled quadcopter, as drones were those autonomous military vehi
by lbenes 11y ago
Language is organic and constantly changing. I used to insist on calling my drone, a remote controlled quadcopter, as drones were those autonomous military vehicles dropping bombs on weddings in the Middle East. But everyone now from the news to the FAA calls my little RC toy, a drone.
Sure, it bothers me to watch words like self-driving and hoverboard lose their meaning. If someone as influential as Obama can't protect my favorite Egyptian god, Isis, there's no point in blaming anyone or trying to fight it.
- akamaka 11y agoWhen you put it that way, it's really interesting to think of it as a language shift rather than just a question of marketing honesty. If the average person describes the car he already owns as "self-driving", perhaps that will accelerate acceptance of real driverless cars.
- niccaluim 11y agoI wouldn't be at all surprised if these are the same people who call the picture on their desktop their "screensaver."
- other_herbert 11y agoThat and calling a forward slash a backslash....
- jmiserez 11y agoDon't forget "hacker": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(term)#Hacker_definition_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(term)#Hacker_definitio...
- noir_lord 11y agoand my favourite "coder" I'm not a coder, I'm a programmer, I lack the lumberjack shirt, skinny jeans and macbook.
- toomanybeersies 11y agoRelated to terminology of what people who write computer programs call themselves: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-programmer/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-pro...
- api_or_ipa 11y agoAfter reading that same article a half dozen times since starting my career, I still don't know what to call myself. Engineer? I don't have an engineering degree. Computer Scientist? The stuff I do feels a lot more engineering than science-- I have never completed a formal scientific methodology when writing code. Besides, my profs at university do a lot more talking/writing than coding. Programmer? As others have said, this cheapens me to the simple action that I take, not the problems that I solve. Developer? Along with being conflated with Real Estate Developers, this does very little to describe even the domain of my expertise. Is a chef a food developer?