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Author here! Never realized that was why factory-girl changed its name... That's interesting thank you! PatchGirl was initially only a rest client so it was j

Author here! Never realized that was why factory-girl changed its name... That's interesting thank you! PatchGirl was initially only a rest client so it was just a stupid pun (because of postman). But it stick and now I like the name :-P

PretzelPirate 6y ago
Shouldn’t you have gone with “PatchWoman” if you were playing off of “PostMan”?
- matsutsu 6y ago
  PatchGirl felt kind of neat to me! Back then, I pictured a young rebel pirate girl on a boat filled with adults (postman, pow, insomnia, ...) and she just looked cool in my head :-P
  - bluntfang 6y ago
    Sounds like a great way to integrate a strong female character into your product somehow! Why not use your idea as the logo?? The name is gendered, but the logo is very bland and ungendered. Seems inconsistent.
    - matsutsu 6y ago
      Yeah, that is the plan :-) I'll have some logo design soon!
  - mrspeaker 6y ago
    I see your vision now, and I get everyone's "this is PC nitpicking gone mad!" reactions - but I think it's more subtle (of course it's totally up to you). "Girl" works great as a superhero name, but for tool for doing serious software development it feels a bit dated. "Girl" has a lot of historical connotations when applied to real actual work. It was a way to belittle the importance of people's skills and organizational value. When I first read "PatchGirl" I saw switch-board operators, not superheros - because it sounds exactly like a name that would get applied to women's work in the 1950s. The same is true for "boy": if you want to imply someone's not a man, you call them "boy"... but no one after the 1950s would do this in an office setting unless they were being antagonistic. Again, it's fine for a superhero! I think that's why some people will be against the name. Words are powerful, and have been used powerfully in the past. If you're not aware of the past (or not adversely affected by it) then it seems like a stupid nitpick - but to some there's a negative reaction to seeing history repeating.
- mewpmewp2 6y ago
  Clearly stretching to find something offensive here imo. Girl just sounds better.
cmlars 6y ago
I worked at a salmon cannery in Alaska for a summer. On the canning line there was the patch station, staffed by “patch girls.” Open cans, freshly filled with fish, would come down the line to each station at about 70 per minute. They were automatically weighed. If they were too heavy or too light you’d “patch” them with extra fish to bring them on par. This station was very fast paced, precise, and very stressful. And had a small pay increase to account for what a demanding position it was. The role was open to anyone but when I was there it was all women (and usually was). I was told it was because they most often had the ability to stay calm in the never ending onslaught of cans and still do precise work for hours on end. I (as a man) worked on at this station for a few days, but couldn’t handle it. It was bonkers hard and those women were beyond impressive.

PretzelPirate 6y ago

Shouldn’t you have gone with “PatchWoman” if you were playing off of “PostMan”?

matsutsu 6y ago
PatchGirl felt kind of neat to me! Back then, I pictured a young rebel pirate girl on a boat filled with adults (postman, pow, insomnia, ...) and she just looked cool in my head :-P
- bluntfang 6y ago
  Sounds like a great way to integrate a strong female character into your product somehow! Why not use your idea as the logo?? The name is gendered, but the logo is very bland and ungendered. Seems inconsistent.
  - matsutsu 6y ago
    Yeah, that is the plan :-) I'll have some logo design soon!
- mrspeaker 6y ago
  I see your vision now, and I get everyone's "this is PC nitpicking gone mad!" reactions - but I think it's more subtle (of course it's totally up to you). "Girl" works great as a superhero name, but for tool for doing serious software development it feels a bit dated. "Girl" has a lot of historical connotations when applied to real actual work. It was a way to belittle the importance of people's skills and organizational value. When I first read "PatchGirl" I saw switch-board operators, not superheros - because it sounds exactly like a name that would get applied to women's work in the 1950s. The same is true for "boy": if you want to imply someone's not a man, you call them "boy"... but no one after the 1950s would do this in an office setting unless they were being antagonistic. Again, it's fine for a superhero! I think that's why some people will be against the name. Words are powerful, and have been used powerfully in the past. If you're not aware of the past (or not adversely affected by it) then it seems like a stupid nitpick - but to some there's a negative reaction to seeing history repeating.
mewpmewp2 6y ago
Clearly stretching to find something offensive here imo. Girl just sounds better.

cmlars 6y ago

I worked at a salmon cannery in Alaska for a summer. On the canning line there was the patch station, staffed by “patch girls.” Open cans, freshly filled with fish, would come down the line to each station at about 70 per minute. They were automatically weighed. If they were too heavy or too light you’d “patch” them with extra fish to bring them on par. This station was very fast paced, precise, and very stressful. And had a small pay increase to account for what a demanding position it was. The role was open to anyone but when I was there it was all women (and usually was). I was told it was because they most often had the ability to stay calm in the never ending onslaught of cans and still do precise work for hours on end. I (as a man) worked on at this station for a few days, but couldn’t handle it. It was bonkers hard and those women were beyond impressive.