6 ms·

“man” in unix is short for “manual” and has no relationship to gender! This is like car vs carpet argument.

by meitham 6y ago

skocznymroczny 6y ago
"master" in Git doesn't have a relationship to slavery and yet it's being changed in repositories around the world.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > "master" in Git doesn't have a relationship to slavery That’s...unclear, at best. Heck, the person who claims responsibility for the Git usage isn’t even sure, having both suggested a “master recording” sense and that derivation from use of “master/slave” in bitkeeper is a possible origin. https://twitter.com/xpasky/status/1272280760280637441?s=19 https://twitter.com/xpasky/status/1272280760280637441?s=19 https://twitter.com/xpasky/status/1272817929046962176?s=19 https://twitter.com/xpasky/status/1272817929046962176?s=19 They've also endorsed the change to “main” as more clear.
luckylion 6y ago
That's true, but some people also get upset every other year about the fact that history and mankind exclude women.
- palimpsests 6y ago
  "mankind" has always struck me as unnecessarily exclusive. Why not "people", "humankind", etc? Such a simple substitution that honors the fact that all people are not men.
  - luckylion 6y ago
    "Mankind" does include all humans, male and female of all ages. You can always use a different word if you prefer to, but please don't claim that e.g. Neil Armstrong did or wanted to exclude women or children when he said his walk on the moon was a giant leap for mankind.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    >"mankind" has always struck me as unnecessarily exclusive IIRC, “man” in the sense of “human/person”, from which comes “mankind”, is actually older than “man” in the sense of “adult male human”. > Why not "people", "humankind", etc? That's what “mankind” has always meant.
    - palimpsests 6y ago
      Thanks, appreciate the etymology. Do you believe this is common knowledge?
celeritascelery 6y ago
Though I do find it funny that the man page viewer in Emacs is called "woman".

“man” in unix is short for “manual” and has no relationship to gender! This is like car vs carpet argument.

skocznymroczny 6y ago

"master" in Git doesn't have a relationship to slavery and yet it's being changed in repositories around the world.

dragonwriter 6y ago
> "master" in Git doesn't have a relationship to slavery That’s...unclear, at best. Heck, the person who claims responsibility for the Git usage isn’t even sure, having both suggested a “master recording” sense and that derivation from use of “master/slave” in bitkeeper is a possible origin. https://twitter.com/xpasky/status/1272280760280637441?s=19 https://twitter.com/xpasky/status/1272280760280637441?s=19 https://twitter.com/xpasky/status/1272817929046962176?s=19 https://twitter.com/xpasky/status/1272817929046962176?s=19 They've also endorsed the change to “main” as more clear.

luckylion 6y ago

That's true, but some people also get upset every other year about the fact that history and mankind exclude women.

palimpsests 6y ago
"mankind" has always struck me as unnecessarily exclusive. Why not "people", "humankind", etc? Such a simple substitution that honors the fact that all people are not men.
- luckylion 6y ago
  "Mankind" does include all humans, male and female of all ages. You can always use a different word if you prefer to, but please don't claim that e.g. Neil Armstrong did or wanted to exclude women or children when he said his walk on the moon was a giant leap for mankind.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  >"mankind" has always struck me as unnecessarily exclusive IIRC, “man” in the sense of “human/person”, from which comes “mankind”, is actually older than “man” in the sense of “adult male human”. > Why not "people", "humankind", etc? That's what “mankind” has always meant.
  - palimpsests 6y ago
    Thanks, appreciate the etymology. Do you believe this is common knowledge?

celeritascelery 6y ago

Though I do find it funny that the man page viewer in Emacs is called "woman".