That’s a fair question. No individual has ever personally communicated to me that they care. And to be quite honest, I never considered the term “master” to be problematic in the scientific or mechanical context in which I’ve used it before.

However, there are groups of people at my work who say that “main” is a less controversial term and in fact a better term for a “trunk” of code development (“mainline”). Since I see no harm in using it, I figure, why not?

The rewards for me are having better relationships with my colleagues and less friction, which in turn leads to a more promising long-term career outlook.

The critically important question is where these rewards are coming from. Do you have better relationships with your colleagues because your new language choices have resolved real problems they were facing? Or do you have better relationships simply because you've joined their subculture, learning to speak how they speak and write how they write? The latter would be a pretty substantial inclusion problem for anyone who's unwilling or unable to join that subculture.

I am not sure the answer matters much. Society evolves beyond our individual power to control it. Being able to adapt to that change is a useful skill that yields benefits not only in the workplace but in society generally. I don't know about you, but I don't want to become one of those grumpy old men who does nothing but complain about "those kids today."

My question would be, have you ever adapted to a social change that you think is bad? It seems almost impossible to live by the standard you're describing, unless you define "society" so narrowly that it only includes causes you're on board with. If I'm the lunch room talking about my tasty chicken curry, and a few PETA members come by to explain that the new term is "bird flesh", should I listen to them?

Good question. I'm not sure I would necessarily bend to them, but it really depends on the situation. What's on the line? What are the costs and benefits of acting, or not acting? Do I really need to die on that particular hill at that particular moment? Can I just smile and nod and save that argument for another day, or move to a different room?

I will admit that what makes this easier for me is that I think society is generally moving in the right direction, towards more diversity, more equity, more tolerance, less racism, etc. If I felt things were going in the wrong direction, I would stand up against it. But it's always easier when the river carries you in the direction you want to go.

Sorry I don't have a great answer here, but what I do know from experience is that most of the time, standing solely on principle while the hilltop is crumbling underneath you isn't a very safe place to be. :-)

Have your team meetings literally ground to a halt because someone on your team says "I'm sorry I refuse to work here until the name of the git branch is changed"?

You seem to be conflating controversial with clearer

No, that's never happened. If it did, I guess we'd cross that bridge when we got to it. There are people better than me (HR, etc.) at resolving these sorts of conflicts.