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NIPS Name Change

21 points by dsr12 8y ago

sseveran 8y ago
TLDR; The name is not changing
RIMR 8y ago
This is ridiculous...
focom 8y ago
I am not a native English speaker, can someone update me on why nips is offensive?
- hooloovoo_zoo 8y ago
  "Nips" is slang for nipples and was a racial slur for the Japanese once upon a time. I don't think the former is really gender specific, and I don't think most people have heard it used in the latter way.
  - focom 8y ago
    I see thanks!
  - wink 8y ago
    Interesting, hadn't heard this yet. As an aside, a (German) acquaintance of mine was once harshly told to shut it and kicked from an open source project's IRC channel because he had (by accident) used the German form of "yep" instead of saying "yep" or "yes" - it's "jap". Wondering to this day how someone can be offended by the mere existence of a word in a different language that happens to map to another one in your language - if it just happens to appear, without context. I'm stressing this as the discussion had nothing to do with people or getting out of hand.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- IshKebab 8y ago
  Apparently because it's short for nipples, and Americans don't like to be reminded that they exist.
tx21 8y ago
Naming, one of the hardest problems in computer science.
tptacek 8y ago
Does anyone here actually care about the substance of this story (academic conference considers name change due to racist homograph, opts against)? Nothing happened. Reasonable people might have changed the name. These reasonable people didn't.
- 5minbreak 8y ago
  Yeah, I cared about this issue. I think it is an interesting direction that tech is going in, and to see some pushback against the identity politics/social justice movement. Perhaps comparable to changing the name Black Hat so to not offend people of color. Reasonable or madness?
  - tptacek 8y ago
    In absolutely no way comparable; a laughable comparison.
enjeyw 8y ago
Even for tongue-in-cheek suggestion to change the name to "27fb380bc013f01262acf6b2518d08bd" to avoid all possible offence, people might start referencing to the conference as "the hash code", which sounds like a cannabis convention.
RangerScience 8y ago
I'm glad the pun that is the TITS conference still has heft.
FartyMcFarter 8y ago
What a weird society we live in, where the name of a body part that feeds babies is considered offensive. What can be better than feeding babies?

NIPS Name Change

21 points by dsr12 8y ago

sseveran 8y ago

TLDR; The name is not changing

RIMR 8y ago

This is ridiculous...

focom 8y ago

I am not a native English speaker, can someone update me on why nips is offensive?

hooloovoo_zoo 8y ago
"Nips" is slang for nipples and was a racial slur for the Japanese once upon a time. I don't think the former is really gender specific, and I don't think most people have heard it used in the latter way.
- focom 8y ago
  I see thanks!
- wink 8y ago
  Interesting, hadn't heard this yet. As an aside, a (German) acquaintance of mine was once harshly told to shut it and kicked from an open source project's IRC channel because he had (by accident) used the German form of "yep" instead of saying "yep" or "yes" - it's "jap". Wondering to this day how someone can be offended by the mere existence of a word in a different language that happens to map to another one in your language - if it just happens to appear, without context. I'm stressing this as the discussion had nothing to do with people or getting out of hand.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
IshKebab 8y ago
Apparently because it's short for nipples, and Americans don't like to be reminded that they exist.

tx21 8y ago

Naming, one of the hardest problems in computer science.

tptacek 8y ago

Does anyone here actually care about the substance of this story (academic conference considers name change due to racist homograph, opts against)? Nothing happened. Reasonable people might have changed the name. These reasonable people didn't.

5minbreak 8y ago
Yeah, I cared about this issue. I think it is an interesting direction that tech is going in, and to see some pushback against the identity politics/social justice movement. Perhaps comparable to changing the name Black Hat so to not offend people of color. Reasonable or madness?
- tptacek 8y ago
  In absolutely no way comparable; a laughable comparison.

enjeyw 8y ago

Even for tongue-in-cheek suggestion to change the name to "27fb380bc013f01262acf6b2518d08bd" to avoid all possible offence, people might start referencing to the conference as "the hash code", which sounds like a cannabis convention.

RangerScience 8y ago

I'm glad the pun that is the TITS conference still has heft.

FartyMcFarter 8y ago

What a weird society we live in, where the name of a body part that feeds babies is considered offensive. What can be better than feeding babies?