4 ms·

This is definitely an international blunder. I’d say it’s more socially acceptable in the UK to call someone a c*t than it is to use this word. Can safely say i

This is definitely an international blunder. I’d say it’s more socially acceptable in the UK to call someone a c*t than it is to use this word. Can safely say it’ll get zero UK adoption due to the name. Shame.

stonogo 4y ago
Given that it's in use at Cambridge and several other HPC centers around the UK, I'm going to disagree. I think most people are cosmopolitan enough to set aside the UK's niche insult community to move forward with real work. I doubt there's any single-syllable morpheme which doesn't translate to something offensive somewhere.
- mellosouls 4y ago
  the UK's niche insult community It's a horrible term that was used for years to denigrate disabled people and that it is used now in cloistered and privileged academic settings is no excuse for an ignorant dismissal like that of the hurt, bigotry and exclusion it conveys.
  - timthorn 4y ago
    I'm UK native and had never heard of the word as an insult. I wonder if it's a regional thing?
    - mellosouls 4y ago
      Perhaps a generational (and maybe class?) thing as well; it and related terms were vicious and influential enough to have motivated The Spastics Society to change their name to Scope in the mid-nineties [1]; I guess growing awareness of disability discrimination and bigotry also contributed to it being recognized as beyond the pale and disappearance from casual conversation with the corollary effect of some people outside those demographics being ignorant of how awful those terms were. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-ouch-26788607 https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-ouch-26788607
    - bowsamic 4y ago
      Well the UK has done an amazing job at getting rid of almost all uses of the word "spastic" due to the campaign against it, so it could be for that reason
      - timthorn 4y ago
        I'm old enough to remember that and some other derivations being very common in the playground. Just not this one.
        bowsamic 4y ago
        To be fair I didn't remember it until I put the "a" on the end, like "spacka". Then I remembered
- Y_Y 4y ago
  "insult community"
petepete 4y ago
And then there are those of us who deal with nonce daily. I wince every time I see the word, and it's really awkward if non-technical folks hear us talking about them.
wetbaby 4y ago
Yeah, spack(er) is really up there for an insult. You really have to be extremely vitriolic to call someone a spack.
TheDesolate0 4y ago
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stonogo 4y ago

Given that it's in use at Cambridge and several other HPC centers around the UK, I'm going to disagree. I think most people are cosmopolitan enough to set aside the UK's niche insult community to move forward with real work. I doubt there's any single-syllable morpheme which doesn't translate to something offensive somewhere.

mellosouls 4y ago
the UK's niche insult community It's a horrible term that was used for years to denigrate disabled people and that it is used now in cloistered and privileged academic settings is no excuse for an ignorant dismissal like that of the hurt, bigotry and exclusion it conveys.
- timthorn 4y ago
  I'm UK native and had never heard of the word as an insult. I wonder if it's a regional thing?
  - mellosouls 4y ago
    Perhaps a generational (and maybe class?) thing as well; it and related terms were vicious and influential enough to have motivated The Spastics Society to change their name to Scope in the mid-nineties [1]; I guess growing awareness of disability discrimination and bigotry also contributed to it being recognized as beyond the pale and disappearance from casual conversation with the corollary effect of some people outside those demographics being ignorant of how awful those terms were. [1] https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-ouch-26788607 https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-ouch-26788607
  - bowsamic 4y ago
    Well the UK has done an amazing job at getting rid of almost all uses of the word "spastic" due to the campaign against it, so it could be for that reason
    - timthorn 4y ago
      I'm old enough to remember that and some other derivations being very common in the playground. Just not this one.
      - bowsamic 4y ago
        To be fair I didn't remember it until I put the "a" on the end, like "spacka". Then I remembered
Y_Y 4y ago
"insult community"

petepete 4y ago

And then there are those of us who deal with nonce daily. I wince every time I see the word, and it's really awkward if non-technical folks hear us talking about them.

wetbaby 4y ago

Yeah, spack(er) is really up there for an insult. You really have to be extremely vitriolic to call someone a spack.

TheDesolate0 4y ago

[dead]