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I once posted a picture of an email stating my train was delayed in French. So the word 'retard' appeared in it. Instagram banned me from monetization or partne
by circlingthesun 2y ago
I once posted a picture of an email stating my train was delayed in French. So the word 'retard' appeared in it. Instagram banned me from monetization or partnerships or something on my account, because the word for delay in French is offensive in English.
- somedude895 2y agoI wonder how many Spanish speakers got banned for discussing Vantablack at the time.
- dmd 2y agoPilots flying an Airbus get called a “retard” every time they land!
- ElectRabbit 2y agoEven worse: they cannot get open mental healthcare for this without loosing their license. Loose-loose-situation.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- sowut 2y agoretar dio
- y33t 2y agoIn Chinese there's a common word that sounds like a particularly offensive racial slur to the untrained American ear. I've seen Chinese speakers called out for this in person, but everything got straightened out pretty quickly. This was pre-social media, but it's not hard to imagine a social media uproar over it these days.
- renewiltord 2y agoEnjoy the uproar then https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-54107329.amp https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-54107329.amp This prof lost a gig
- bear141 2y agoTo me it feels like society is finally moving on from this insane over emphasis on finding things to be offended by and identity culture bs. I’m really hoping it peaked in the lockdown when people really had nothing better to do.
- WhitneyLand 2y agoIt is quite striking and bizarre the first time you’re in an extended conversation, and hear it over and over. Surprised someone was called out though as all the social cues around should be enough to sense no ill intent.
- 0_____0 2y ago那个 (nèige)[1] It does stick out of Mandarin speech to the US English speaker, but it's typically pretty obvious from context that it's not related to the slur. It's never been worth more than a giggle when growing up, I'm spending like 100x more time on thinking about it right now than I have cumulatively in my life, despite having grown up around Chinese people. [1]: https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/The_filler_word_%22neige%22 https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/The_fil...
- tshaddox 2y ago> because the word for delay in French is offensive in English It's also the word for delay in English.
- stronglikedan 2y agoIt's also not offensive in English, even though some virtue signalers insist on taking offense to it.
- hcurtiss 2y agoRight. I made a reference to educational development being retarded due to COVID restrictions and the very people you'd expect to be offended were of course offended.
- barbazoo 2y agoPerhaps because virtually no one uses the term in that context anymore. It is often best to avoid ambiguity when posting online.
- zahlman 2y agoMy own experience is the exact opposite. Out of all the times in my life I can recall ever having heard the word "retarded" used, I cannot think of any reason to suspect that any of them were meant as anything other than a synonym for "idiotic". Which, of course, also referred to clinical mental disability at some point in history. As did "moronic", "imbecilic" and others. But nowadays they're really all just strong forms of "stupid". Even in contexts where generic insults directed at people are not tolerated, it should be acceptable to recognize stupid ideas as such.
- BHSPitMonkey 2y agoI think you've misunderstood, then. The GP's comment was using it in the technical sense (slowed/delayed, not the common "that's so dumb" form you've observed).
- insane_dreamer 2y agoThis is different than the fact-checking, and has to do with automated moderation algorithms (which generally suck), which are continuing (because advertisers want them).
- JohnMakin 2y agoYes, it is, but the salient point that I felt was clear in that post was to demonstrate that these systems don't work well, and that such systems have such a poor understanding of context and circumventions as to be rendered ineffective if not totally counterproductive. I'm fully aware such mechanisms aren't going anywhere, right now, but at least Meta is acknowledging the fact that at present, they aren't really providing the user experience they intended. That aside, I find it offensive a little bit that Meta has taken it upon themselves to decide what the "right" discourse is that their users want to see, and would rather they create a mechanism to let users decide for themselves - which this does at least outwardly appear to be a move towards. They've also in the last few years toned down or removed some of the auto-modding in private groups, and shifted that responsibility towards its community members and moderators - which was also a similarly good step.
- insane_dreamer 2y ago> auto-modding in private groups that's very different and a case where the closed community should bear that responsibility but as far global FB community -- which doesn't really exist (there is no "community", just users) -- or, more precisely, what ends up in people feeds, the fact checking was a good thing because a lot of people consume news that way; so this is a big step in the wrong direction
- ben_w 2y agoSome time around 2011, the Apple App store was warning me about rude words in the app description; unfortunately it was warning me about the German word "Knopf" which isn't rude. I think what happened is the English rude word list was translated into German, rather than just replaced with local rude words.
- iandanforth 2y agoButton?
- ben_w 2y agoThe word "knob" would also translate as "Knopf" in the sense of button, while also having a euphemistic meaning of "penis".
- froh 2y agoGerman native speaker here. in no region or context does Knopf mean anything offensive, especially not "penis".
- ben_w 2y agoYes, I know. My words seem to be easily misunderstood. The claim is that: 1) "knob" *in English* can mean "penis" 2) This is why "knob" was on the English rude words list 3) It looks like a rude word list containing "knob" was translated without context, so that the word "knob" became "Knopf" even though "Knopf" isn't rude. Wäre es andersherum gewesen, wäre es so, dass „Schlange“ sowohl <<en:queue>> als auch <<en:penis>> bedeutet, und wenn „queue“ in einer englischen Liste mit Schimpfwörtern stünde, wären die meisten Leute sehr verwirrt.
- froh 2y agoah. das kam so nicht rüber, thanks for clarifying.
- huijzer 2y agoSame would probably happen when talking in a video about the French theorem proofer called Coq.
- aimanbenbaha 2y agoAs someone who speaks French this made me chuckle