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This sort of deliberate bad faith interpretation of another's comment is the worst form of virtue signaling hysterics I've witnessed outside of a lab. The OP i

This sort of deliberate bad faith interpretation of another's comment is the worst form of virtue signaling hysterics I've witnessed outside of a lab. The OP is referring to a specific person (and used the pronoun 'he'). It is in fact not considered by any reputable etymological source as a slur or as a sexist term in any capacity.

PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
I've seen complaints about it on HN before, so don't go claiming that this has never come up before. The term is widely used by younger programmers in online discussions to refer to unnamed (and it oftens seems as if the name is almost not actually known) older programmers. I've seen it on HN, Reddit, Twitter (RIP) and Mastodon. It's not a reference to specific person, it's a reference to a perceived role. Even if a person has/had a gray beard, why is that the characteristic used to describe them? And it is sexist only in an implicit sense: it is obviously a term used to describe (a) only men (b) older programmers. There is absolutely no chance that someone says "I talked to a graybeard about it" to mean that they spoke to a (older) female programmer.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > Even if a person has/had a gray beard, why is that the characteristic used to describe them? It's been programmer's slang for a very, very long time. At least back to the '70s. I'm a graybeard, and I don't avoid using the term, nor do I find it offensive. It just means someone who's been doing this for a long time. > There is absolutely no chance that someone says "I talked to a graybeard about it" to mean that they spoke to a (older) female programmer. Since I've absolutely heard it used in reference to female programmers, there is more than "no chance". In my experience, it's a bit like the term "guys". It may have been gendered at first, but it has largely lost the gendered connotations.

PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago

I've seen complaints about it on HN before, so don't go claiming that this has never come up before. The term is widely used by younger programmers in online discussions to refer to unnamed (and it oftens seems as if the name is almost not actually known) older programmers. I've seen it on HN, Reddit, Twitter (RIP) and Mastodon. It's not a reference to specific person, it's a reference to a perceived role. Even if a person has/had a gray beard, why is that the characteristic used to describe them? And it is sexist only in an implicit sense: it is obviously a term used to describe (a) only men (b) older programmers. There is absolutely no chance that someone says "I talked to a graybeard about it" to mean that they spoke to a (older) female programmer.

JohnFen 3y ago
> Even if a person has/had a gray beard, why is that the characteristic used to describe them? It's been programmer's slang for a very, very long time. At least back to the '70s. I'm a graybeard, and I don't avoid using the term, nor do I find it offensive. It just means someone who's been doing this for a long time. > There is absolutely no chance that someone says "I talked to a graybeard about it" to mean that they spoke to a (older) female programmer. Since I've absolutely heard it used in reference to female programmers, there is more than "no chance". In my experience, it's a bit like the term "guys". It may have been gendered at first, but it has largely lost the gendered connotations.