Various notes on /usr unification

Posted Feb 28, 2012 18:21 UTC (Tue) by pboddie (guest, #50784)
In reply to: Various notes on /usr unification by peter-b
Parent article: Various notes on /usr unification

Because it is tiresome, appearing in just about every discussion on the Internet, often accompanied by the equally tiresome accusations of "ad hominem" and "bad journalism" that are also due for retirement.

Various notes on /usr unification

Posted Feb 28, 2012 19:32 UTC (Tue) by josh (subscriber, #17465) [Link] (5 responses)

The terms won't go away as long as the issues they describe continue to exist.

Various notes on /usr unification

Posted Feb 29, 2012 12:11 UTC (Wed) by pboddie (guest, #50784) [Link] (4 responses)

Wolves may still roam the forest, but that doesn't mean that the shepherd boy needs to cry their name every time he sees the sheepdog.

Various notes on /usr unification

Posted Feb 29, 2012 12:21 UTC (Wed) by mpr22 (subscriber, #60784) [Link] (2 responses)

From where I'm sitting, moving to "retire the term 'bikeshedding'" sounds like a request to remove the word from use. All that could be achieved thereby is to cause people to concoct a new word to express the same sentiment (see also the history of words like 'moron', 'idiot', etc). That process would, in turn, probably result in a great deal of bikeshedding and miscommunication until a new status quo was achieved... whereupon someone who has then the same motives that you do now would doubtless demand that we stop using the new word for bikeshedding.

Various notes on /usr unification

Posted Feb 29, 2012 19:45 UTC (Wed) by jospoortvliet (guest, #33164) [Link] (1 responses)

... which is exactly what has happened a few times already with words referring to immigrants in NL. A word is used, it becomes 'a dirty word', the political correct start using another word, that word becomes similarly emotionally laden, new word gets picked, etcetera. Doesn't change a thing...

Various notes on /usr unification

Posted Mar 1, 2012 14:34 UTC (Thu) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

This is called the euphemism treadmill.

Various notes on /usr unification

Posted Mar 1, 2012 8:45 UTC (Thu) by AndreE (guest, #60148) [Link]

Should we get rid of the word "wolves" though?

Various notes on /usr unification

Posted Feb 29, 2012 9:02 UTC (Wed) by marcH (subscriber, #57642) [Link] (3 responses)

> Because it is tiresome, appearing in just about every discussion on the Internet, often accompanied by the equally tiresome accusations of "ad hominem" and "bad journalism" that are also due for retirement.

Wow! So, bikeshedding, ad hominems and bad journalism have all vanished from the Internet? This should make the headlines!

Various notes on /usr unification

Posted Feb 29, 2012 18:43 UTC (Wed) by jond (subscriber, #37669) [Link] (2 responses)

That's a straw man argument.

(sorry.)

Various notes on /usr unification

Posted Feb 29, 2012 22:56 UTC (Wed) by marcH (subscriber, #57642) [Link] (1 responses)

Please explain the meaning of "motion to retire" and "due for retirement".

One of the easiest ways to troll: fight exaggeration with exaggeration. Sorry I fed it.

Various notes on /usr unification

Posted Mar 1, 2012 18:12 UTC (Thu) by pboddie (guest, #50784) [Link]

I actually forgot to suggest accusations of trolling, along with "correlation does not imply causation" and "the plural of anecdote is not data". Of course such terms and phrases describe actual phenomena, but they also seem to take the role of the panic button in any discussion.