Re: IESG Statement On Oppressive or Exclusionary Language

[Ladislav Lhotka <[e-mail]>]

On 24. 07. 20 11:11, Masataka Ohta wrote:
> Christian Hopps wrote:
> 
>> The document actually talks to these points with some references.
> 
> I'm saying the document and the references are all too
> much US centric ignoring both the original and established
> meaning of "slave".
> 
> As
> 
>     https://www.etymonline.com/word/slave
> 
>     originally "Slav"

So maybe users of Slavonic languages (like me) should feel offended in
the first place. :-) It is worth pointing out that Czech equivalents of
master and slave are never used in a technical context - instead we
already use some neutral terms (or, sometimes the English terms without
any connotations). So, all this is basically a non-issue for the Czech
language.

It is perhaps also interesting that the Italian greeting "ciao" means
also the same as "schiavo" (in a Venetian dialect, I believe).

So I would also suggest not to over-react regarding master and slave.

Lada

> 
>     Grose's dictionary (1785) has under Negroe "A
>     black-a-moor; figuratively used for a slave,"
>     without regard to race.
> 
> it should be OK to stop using "Negroe", but not "slave",
> which are originally for Slav, whites.
> 
>                     Masataka Ohta
> 

-- 
Ladislav Lhotka
Head, CZ.NIC Labs
PGP Key ID: 0xB8F92B08A9F76C67