6 ms·

Did you really intend to call her "rackless Ruth" or was the slur an accidental misspelling of reckless? Because pointless and crude name-calling like that real

by m12k 9y ago

Did you really intend to call her "rackless Ruth" or was the slur an accidental misspelling of reckless? Because pointless and crude name-calling like that really detracts from any valid points you might have brought up.

cshenton 9y ago
Not OP, but I'd assumed it was referring to removal of literal data centre racks.
batushka2 9y ago
Snowflake alert! Just stop harassing vivid language, please.
shangxiao 9y ago
According to Merriam-Webster [1] "rackless" is a variant of "reckless". [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rackless https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rackless
- m12k 9y ago
  Do you consider it likely that the poster I replied to routinely uses the dialectal variant rackless over the common spelling reckless?
  - smoyer 9y ago
    You should also consider which areas of the world use "rack" as a slang for "breasts". (I'm not disagreeing with you - as a native English speaker I didn't know that rackless and reckless were synonyms).
cup-of-tea 9y ago
It didn't detract anything for me. I'm able to read, comprehend, and digest any wisdom even if it's written with language which I wouldn't use myself. I think it's a really useful skill because you'll find most people do use different language to you.
- m12k 9y ago
  My problem with the comment was not the dirty words (I love me some George Carlin and Louis Black), but the act of name-calling. The very first sentence of the hacker news guidelines for comments is "Be civil" [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - cup-of-tea 9y ago
    That kind of "name calling" is pretty common in many areas. Watch some debates in British parliament, for example. Do you really think the Chief Financial Officer of one of the biggest companies in the world is unable to handle it? All you will do if you pursue this sterilisation of language is drive away the really intelligent, if idiosyncratic, people and help build an echo chamber.
    - m12k 9y ago
      I sincerely doubt that the Chief Financial Officer of one of the biggest companies in the world has time to read random comments on HN, so whether they 'can handle it' is moot. There is certainly a place for cursing and maybe even name-calling (though I'm surprised you'd bring up the British parliament as an example worthy of imitation) but Hacker News is not it, cf. why I quoted its guidelines. Indeed, sometimes cursing is the only way to properly convey a meaning. But this was not such a case - the slur was entirely drive-by and only served to distract from the rest of the comment (whose merit I cannot comment on since I had never heard of the person being commented on before today). So my intention is not to sterilize language or build an echo chamber, but to hopefully make one of these 'intelligent, if idiosyncratic' people aware that their way of communicating was preventing their message from reaching a wider audience.
      - alien_at_work 9y ago
        The only one detracting from anything is you. The rest of us read the comment just fine. I'm american myself and know the "rack" slang but the meaning you suggested didn't occur to me until you pointed it out. I assumed the name had something to do with where this person (I don't know who he's talking about) used to work or some infamous project that went badly or something. Understanding the name didn't seem critical to the comment so I didn't spend time trying to analyze it.

by m12k 9y ago

cshenton 9y ago

Not OP, but I'd assumed it was referring to removal of literal data centre racks.

batushka2 9y ago

Snowflake alert! Just stop harassing vivid language, please.

shangxiao 9y ago

According to Merriam-Webster [1] "rackless" is a variant of "reckless". [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rackless https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rackless

m12k 9y ago
Do you consider it likely that the poster I replied to routinely uses the dialectal variant rackless over the common spelling reckless?
- smoyer 9y ago
  You should also consider which areas of the world use "rack" as a slang for "breasts". (I'm not disagreeing with you - as a native English speaker I didn't know that rackless and reckless were synonyms).

cup-of-tea 9y ago

It didn't detract anything for me. I'm able to read, comprehend, and digest any wisdom even if it's written with language which I wouldn't use myself. I think it's a really useful skill because you'll find most people do use different language to you.

m12k 9y ago
My problem with the comment was not the dirty words (I love me some George Carlin and Louis Black), but the act of name-calling. The very first sentence of the hacker news guidelines for comments is "Be civil" [1]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- cup-of-tea 9y ago
  That kind of "name calling" is pretty common in many areas. Watch some debates in British parliament, for example. Do you really think the Chief Financial Officer of one of the biggest companies in the world is unable to handle it? All you will do if you pursue this sterilisation of language is drive away the really intelligent, if idiosyncratic, people and help build an echo chamber.
  - m12k 9y ago
    I sincerely doubt that the Chief Financial Officer of one of the biggest companies in the world has time to read random comments on HN, so whether they 'can handle it' is moot. There is certainly a place for cursing and maybe even name-calling (though I'm surprised you'd bring up the British parliament as an example worthy of imitation) but Hacker News is not it, cf. why I quoted its guidelines. Indeed, sometimes cursing is the only way to properly convey a meaning. But this was not such a case - the slur was entirely drive-by and only served to distract from the rest of the comment (whose merit I cannot comment on since I had never heard of the person being commented on before today). So my intention is not to sterilize language or build an echo chamber, but to hopefully make one of these 'intelligent, if idiosyncratic' people aware that their way of communicating was preventing their message from reaching a wider audience.
    - alien_at_work 9y ago
      The only one detracting from anything is you. The rest of us read the comment just fine. I'm american myself and know the "rack" slang but the meaning you suggested didn't occur to me until you pointed it out. I assumed the name had something to do with where this person (I don't know who he's talking about) used to work or some infamous project that went badly or something. Understanding the name didn't seem critical to the comment so I didn't spend time trying to analyze it.