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Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by photochemsyn on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @12:44AM (#34062023)
I can think of a few more!

"register" - might indicate that someone has to register as a second-class citizen, enemy alien, etc.

"bit" - might imply that someone is only a 'bit player', leading to feelings of inferiority.

"tool" - an obviously offensive word meaning that someone is only fit to be used by others.

"terminal" - we need to be sensitive about words that bring up the concept of death, to avoid triggering effects.

"inheritance" - individuals are not the product of their ancestry!

"class" - we don't need a class-structured society, that's a leftover from a feudal past.

"polymorphism" - too close to hermaphrodite, must be eliminated.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by erosenbe0 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:24AM (#34062322)
"Stanford" - may refer to noted racist and Asian-exclusionist Leland Stanford. Also may refer to related location formed originally as a whites-only educational enclave on indigenous lands.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by kmonsen on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @02:43AM (#34062833)
Yeah if they want to go full political correct that is probably the best place to start.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by coffeeblack on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @03:01AM (#34062957)
And of course the “Master’s” degree.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by quickthrower2 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @03:38AM (#34063223)
Now called a Main’s degree
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by btach on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @04:27AM (#34063606)
I almost spit my tea out. You made me laugh.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by kleene_op on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @04:31AM (#34063631)
That's too close to the spelling of the word Man, which would be exclusionary of the woman gender. Let's call it a Human's degree.

Or better yet, a Being's degree. Let's not be speciesists.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by hef19898 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @05:55AM (#34064211)
Scentient, please. But let's not use the New Order's classification of species as scentient or not.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by quickthrower2 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @06:23AM (#34064403)
Or elementist (Silicon vs. carbon)
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by jazzabeanie on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @07:56AM (#34065209)
Human has the word man in it, so let’s use huperson
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by TeMPOraL on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @08:15AM (#34065415)
"Terran" is an established term.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by tsimionescu on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @08:53AM (#34065849)
That's exclusionary of beings not native to Terra.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by TeMPOraL on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @09:21AM (#34066242)
That's not going to be an issue. There are zero such beings known so far, no hard evidence they even exist, and we're not going to find or create ones any time soon - the same people who engage in language policing also currently dislike space exploration for various ideological reasons.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by skjoldr on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @10:46AM (#34067487)
Well the colonizers didn't know that Native Americans existed before landing in America, and look what happened. We must prevent any and all such occurrences in our interplanetary future by only using a non-specieist vocabulary.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by kamma4434 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:51PM (#34070447)
It’s so obvious that if colonizers had used inclusive language, everybody would have lived in peace. Though maybe labelling them ‘colonizers’ and not ‘welcome guests’ was only the first of a set of micro aggressions that precipitated the situation.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by EdiX on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:14PM (#34069830)
> That's not going to be an issue. There are zero such beings known so far

Maybe the reason there are zero openly non-terran (or, preferrably, differently planeted) folks is attutides like yours. Think about it.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by jkingsbery on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:51PM (#34070455)
> for various ideological reasons

They are opposed to colonies wherever they might be, even lunar colonies.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by tosc on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @06:28PM (#34074377)
This is gaslighting the lived experience of those who have reported abduction by aliens.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by MrYellowP on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @03:34AM (#34078126)
You have no argument there. The same people who care about butchering language and destroying society are the same people who don't care about facts or what's real.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by aliswe on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @06:26AM (#34079250)
What do you identify as, though?
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by anshumankmr on Sunday December 25, 2022 @09:59AM (#34127752)
I just love this thread.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by pc86 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @10:42AM (#34067426)
I think you missed the joke, friend.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by jkingsbery on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:50PM (#34070434)
But "person" has the word "son" in it, and that's gendered.

Better go with huperchild.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by akiselev on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @03:58AM (#34078249)
Huperchild has the words “per child” in it, which is exclusionary to people who choose not to worsen overpopulation by not procreating.

How about huperperson?

Uh wait, that’s recursi- political correctness overflow error.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by Pigalowda on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @10:49AM (#34067521)
Human ends in “man” and has already been regarded as offensive to “people” or “persons”. Being when referenced to an organism is only used in context of “human” (offensive) or an “alien” (offensive). Anything that is referential to an offensive word must be struck as well.

No word should ever create a mental reference to a banned word nor should a substitute word create a mental suspicion or guess of what the original offensive word was. A new vocabulary must be formed -newspeak if you will.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by agentwiggles on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @12:18PM (#34068959)
> Its vocabulary was so constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect methods. This was done partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by lo_zamoyski on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @11:36AM (#34068295)
You're discriminating against non-beings.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by schappim on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @08:55AM (#34065875)
Being brought up in multicultural Australia, I was colourblind [1] to race. I find it hard to even remember what ethnicity my peers were.

As such, I have no hate of other races but I'm filled with hate every time my "git push origin master" fails because the branch is now called "main".

[1] How was this word not on the list?

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by 8ytecoder on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @11:21AM (#34068049)
Add aliases to your gitconfig. Not gonna solve the frustration but at least it doesn’t have to be a trigger (oops). Also, I much prefer trunk over main/master anyway so I just went back to that.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by PrefixKitten on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @02:22PM (#34071004)
I hope you've got a big trunk, because I'm going to put my bike in it

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by schappim on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @05:25PM (#34073602)
Thank you! I had no idea one could alias branch names. Why be woke, when you can be aliased awake.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by lo_zamoyski on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @11:38AM (#34068321)
"Being brought up in multicultural Australia, I was colourblind [1] to race."

Tell that to Ibram Kendi.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by erosenbe0 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:04PM (#34069692)
He can't believe that kids in racially integrated environments are efficient thinkers largely concerned with simple priorities. Is Billy a bully? Should I pick Alice first in the game on the sandlot? Can Jose help me with this math problem?
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by Cthulhu_ on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @10:20AM (#34067065)
I'm not very smart and would prefer it just being called a university degree, to describe where you get it from.

I mean what the fuck is a sophomore?

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by TeMPOraL on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @11:53AM (#34068576)
You're not wrong; it would probably make sense to have first/second/third level degrees instead of BSc/MSc/PhD (and their equivalents). We might even get there eventually. But the reason this would be desirable has nothing to do with etymology of "master's degree" (or "bachelor's degree"), nor with the hypocrisy of a university declaring the word "master" as offensive, while not renaming the corresponding degree.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by quickthrower2 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @03:16PM (#34071860)
Sophomore is an oxymoron:

> From earlier sophumer, from the obsolete sophom (“sophism or dialectical exercise”), likely influenced by Ancient Greek σοφός (sophós, “wise”) + μωρός (mōrós, “fool”). Compare oxymoron (literally “sharp-dull”), a similar contradiction.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by thequux on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:17PM (#34069872)
Only in the UK. In the US, it's better known as a Line Degree.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by thinkingemote on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @05:29AM (#34064015)
it would be even easier to say that "Bachelors" degree is worse on multiple woke levels except perhaps race.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by TeMPOraL on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @07:06AM (#34064769)
PhD isn't any better - the Ph stands for "philosophy", which ostensibly is about "love for wisdom", but it's clear etymologically that phílos + sophía isn't exactly ungendered.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by brailsafe on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @03:31AM (#34063170)
Hopefully nobody from White Settlement, Tx applies
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by trilbyglens on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @06:09AM (#34064314)
Might explain some of the existential self-loathing embodied in this list...
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by chrisbaker98 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @06:15AM (#34064340)
Stanford also contains "ford", a possibly reference to the industrialist Henry Ford, a notorious anti-semite.

"Oxford" has got to go too. Not only for the reference to Henry Ford, but because of its historical origins as the name of a place where oxen could ford the River Thames. This has troubling connotations of speciesism and animal exploitation, not to mention it's exclusionary to the differently-abled, who might not be able to ford a river without some kind of additional structure being constructed. (On that note, Cambridge was ahead of its time.)

As for an alternative name, the obvious solution would be to rename these venerable institutions after a more palatable historical figure who modern undergraduates don't think did anything wrong: Stalin.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by cuteboy19 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @09:21AM (#34066247)
This should not be considered hyperbole. These people will write entire books which can be summarised as "Pol Pot did nothing wrong" [0]

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_genocide_denial#Chom...

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by wholinator2 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @09:43AM (#34066543)
They have an email link to submit additional words. We're I not early in my academic career and worried of potential repercussions, I would be emailing these suggestions to them. Though I worry if they wouldn't just add them all to the list rather than understanding the message.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by malandrew on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @01:46AM (#34077462)
Funny you mention this because it reminds me of the time I pointed out that Chief Seattle owned slaves and committed a genocide against the Chimmicum people. I forgot the context in which I made this observation but the truth is that the overwhelming majority of people of historical significance would merit cancelling by today’s standards.

The road where on can’t lead anywhere but renaming anything just so a younger generation can claim superiority over older generations whom they are forcing to adopt their new vernacular at risk of cancellation.

“The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.” —Philip K. Dick

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by NoToP on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:36AM (#34062405)
"black Friday" - what could possibly have been on sale originally when it got this name?
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by rippercushions on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @02:44AM (#34062839)
Clearly a reference to "white savior" Robinson Crusoe's manservant Friday, a highly offensive stereotype of a subservient BIPOC.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by JakeAl on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @03:02AM (#34062963)
Know your hierarchy of oppression. That's sexist. Clearly it would be code for His Girl Friday.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by denton-scratch on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @05:33AM (#34064053)
"Girl"? Seriously? Infantilising women is sexist.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by mc32 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @07:58AM (#34065228)
It’s a reference to an old movie.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by highwaylights on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @03:11AM (#34063022)
I always assumed this was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the 1929 market crash and subsequent events.

Taken to mean “this is going to be a really stressful day”. Probably utterly not at all that though.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by IIAOPSW on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @05:28AM (#34064008)
The real answer is that financial ledgers used to use black ink for positive numbers and red for negative, hence the terminology "in the red"/"in the black" to mean an enterprise is in debt or profitable. Black Friday was the day of the year where every department store would have so much business that it put them "in the black", even if they had just spent the entire previous part of the year "in the red".
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by chrisbaker98 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @06:17AM (#34064359)
That's a good story, but according to Wikipedia this etymology was invented after the fact and isn't the real origin of the term (which is somewhat obscure.)
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by bregma on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @07:15AM (#34064848)
...and which pen is used in an accounting ledger at certain times of year is not obscure?
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by chrisbaker98 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @07:55AM (#34065204)
I don't get what you're saying. It's not obscure at all that black ink denotes profits and red ink denotes losses - "in the black" and "in the red" are well-understood English phrases.

All I'm saying is that this particular meaning of black/red doesn't appear to be the origins of the name "black Friday", at least according to Wikipedia, but I really don't care about this enough to investigate any further.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by Mil0dV on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @04:03AM (#34063423)
Origin early 17th century (as school slang, in the sense ‘Friday on which an examination is held’). The shopping sense dates from the 1960s and was originally used with reference to congestion created by shoppers; it was later explained as a day when retailers’ accounts went from being ‘in the red’ to ‘in the black’.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by evol262 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:33AM (#34062379)
How do you feel about "bad faith"?
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by Sebb767 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @02:19AM (#34062672)
Clearly insulting religion, to be avoided!
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by flyingfences on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @08:48AM (#34065798)
... unless that religion is Christianity, in which case, fire away!
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by vizavix on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @03:38AM (#34063224)
These are brilliant, I can't wait to troll my well-meaning but sanctimonious colleagues with these.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by littlestymaar on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @04:27AM (#34063600)
> "class" - we don't need a class-structured society, that's a leftover from a feudal past.

You got this one backwards though, the notion of “social classes” is a left-winged concept, while the conservatives are usually the one pretending they don't exist.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by noufalibrahim on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @05:57AM (#34064224)
"Trigger warning" is now hurtful and should be replaced by "content note". That's recursively triggering.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by leoc on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @05:59AM (#34064238)
Ask the French about the sensitivities involved in 'bit'. Actually, they've already highlighted the issue, with typical maturity and sophistication: https://coq.inria.fr/ . (The name wasn't a coincidence, no.)
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by A4ET8a8uTh0 on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @11:53AM (#34068574)
<< "polymorphism" - too close to hermaphrodite, must be eliminated.

You do not eliminate, you disintermediate.

I will admit that this may explain some of the general public's attitude towards academia and higher learning.

Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by PopePompus on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:40PM (#34070237)
How 'bout "gold standard", "golden rule", etc. After all, black people were forced to work in gold mines during South Africa's aparthied era. Maybe the name of the element gold needs to be changed too.
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by crest on Tuesday December 20, 2022 @01:47PM (#34070381)
How dare you use such an offensive word as "eliminate"!?!?!? /s
Re:Stanford's “Elimination of Harmful Language” Initiative by hnick on Wednesday December 21, 2022 @01:11AM (#34077275)
"tool" is historically and currently also slang for penis. Can't have that.