ChasingBlueSky 0 #1 November 26, 2003 'Master' and 'slave' computer labels unacceptable, officials say LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) --Los Angeles officials have asked that manufacturers, suppliers and contractors stop using the terms "master" and "slave" on computer equipment, saying such terms are unacceptable and offensive. The request -- which has some suppliers furious and others busy re-labeling components -- came after an unidentified worker spotted a videotape machine carrying devices labeled "master" and "slave" and filed a discrimination complaint with the county's Office of Affirmative Action Compliance. In the computer industry, "master" and "slave" are used to refer to primary and secondary hard disk drives. The terms are also used in other industries. "Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label," Joe Sandoval, division manager of purchasing and contract services, said in a memo sent to County vendors. "We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment components that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature," Sandoval said in the memo, which was distributed last week and made available to Reuters. The memo did not include any suggestions for alternative labels. Dennis Tafoya, director of the affirmative action office, said in a separate memo that an "exhaustive search" had been undertaken to find all such labels and replace them with more "appropriate" ones. A form was sent to all departments to identify equipment carrying the labels "master" and "slave" or any other offensive terms. Faced with an avalanche of complaints from vendors and the general public, Sandoval told Reuters in an interview that his memo was intended as "nothing more than a request" and not an ultimatum or policy change. "I do understand that this term has been an industry standard for years and years and this is nothing more than a plea to vendors to see what they can do," he said. "It appears that some folks have taken this a little too literally." Sandoval said that he had already rejected a suggestion that the county stop buying all equipment carrying the "master" and "slave" labels and had no intention of enforcing a ban on such terms with suppliers. "But we are culturally sensitive and we have 90,000 employees," he said. "We have to take these things seriously." Sandoval added that in addition to the e-mails he's received "telling me how stupid I am and how I should be fired" he has gotten a positive response from some companies willing to reexamine their labels. In June, the Los Angeles city council unanimously passed a law requiring that any companies doing business with the city disclose profits they may have made from slavery in the 19th Century. In 2000, the council supported federal legislation seeking reparations for descendants of slaves._________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #2 November 26, 2003 Use the Force.... My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jlmiracle 7 #3 November 26, 2003 Ivan's gonna get ya. Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChasingBlueSky 0 #4 November 26, 2003 Ugh, really? I didn't see it posted. My bad._________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightingale 0 #5 November 26, 2003 it is Los Angeles COUNTY that came up with this bit of moronic drivel. not the City. just a clarification. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adamT 0 #6 November 26, 2003 I posted the memo yesterday, but this article has more info so i think it was a good post. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #7 November 26, 2003 This is a sign of the ridiculousness. The County has 90,000 emloyees. ONE employee filed a discrimination complaint. So, to be sensitive to this one person would suggest that an entire industry change its standard language. The article was good, for it showed how one asshole can start stuff like this. My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 226 #8 November 26, 2003 Quoteit is Los Angeles COUNTY that came up with this bit of moronic drivel. not the City. just a clarification. Still, LA County is in what State? Huh, I cannn't heaaarrrrr youuuuuuuu. 'splains everything.I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightingale 0 #9 November 26, 2003 hehe... I work for the City. We have a couple of moronic PC rules, but nothing that rediculous. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jerry81 10 #10 November 26, 2003 Please tell me this is from The Onion or something... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChasingBlueSky 0 #11 November 26, 2003 Check the dateline - it's from Reuters. No joke here, found it on the newswire today._________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CrazyIvan 0 #12 November 26, 2003 I'm gonna start sending letters to theSenate in order to get rid of CALIFORNIA, it's an embarrasment to the USA. I wonder, if we get rid of Caca-lifornia the IQ of the USA will increse?.....HELL YEAH!!! __________________________________________ Blue Skies and May the Force be with you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CrazyIvan 0 #13 November 26, 2003 No joke indeed. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3894931__________________________________________ Blue Skies and May the Force be with you. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,120 #14 November 26, 2003 >This is a sign of the ridiculousness. The County has 90,000 >emloyees. ONE employee filed a discrimination complaint. Hey! Discrimination is discrimination, even if one person feels threatened. You know, lately I've come to feel threatened by the letter e. It resembles a Gaelic symbol referring to Ireland's oppression by the UK and their long and bloody war for freedom, and I am offended that LA county goes around blindly discriminating against the Irish by using the letter e in all its memos. In th futur I hop thy stop this grgious, offnsiv practic. What's mor important, my flings or on littl lttr? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #15 November 26, 2003 QuoteIn the computer industry, "master" and "slave" are used to refer to primary and secondary hard disk drives. The terms are also used in other industries. So, then, what's the freekin' issue? Use the terms Primary and Secondary. BTW, this also impacts the entertainment post-production business where the terms "Master" and "Slave" are also used in reference to VTRs and such. I -personally- think it's a good move to change the terminology, but shouldn't necessarily be mandated by the government.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChasingBlueSky 0 #16 November 26, 2003 I was curious on this, so I looked up the definition of Master and Slave since we will need to change everything that uses these words as we remove them from the daily use: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=8&q=master This isn't the full entry, click to read more mas·ter ( P ) Pronunciation Key (mstr) n. One that has control over another or others. The owner or keeper of an animal: The dog ran toward its master. The owner of a slave. One who has control over or ownership of something: the master of a large tea plantation. The captain of a merchant ship. Also called master mariner. An employer. The man who serves as the head of a household. One who defeats another; a victor. One whose teachings or doctrines are accepted by followers. Master Christianity. Jesus. A male teacher, schoolmaster, or tutor. One who holds a master's degree. An artist or performer of great and exemplary skill. An old master. A worker qualified to teach apprentices and carry on the craft independently. An expert: a master of three languages. Abbr. M. Used formerly as a title for a man holding a naval office ranking next below a lieutenant on a warship. Used as a title for a man who serves as the head or presiding officer of certain societies, clubs, orders, or institutions. Chiefly British. Used as a title for any of various male law court officers. Master Used as a title for any of various male officers having specified duties concerning the management of the British royal household. Master Used as a courtesy title before the given or full name of a boy not considered old enough to be addressed as Mister. Archaic. Used as a form of address for a man; mister. Master A man who owns a pack of hounds or is the chief officer of a hunt. An original, such as an original document or audio recording, from which copies can be made. adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a master. Principal or predominant: a master plot. Controlling all other parts of a mechanism: a master switch. Highly skilled or proficient: a master thief. Being an original from which copies are made. tr.v. mas·tered, mas·ter·ing, mas·ters To act as or be the master of. To make oneself a master of: mastered the language in a year's study. To overcome or defeat: He finally mastered his addiction to drugs. To reduce to subjugation; break or tame (an animal, for example). To produce a master audio recording for. To season or age (dyed goods). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Middle English, from Old English mgister, mægister, and Old French maistre both from Latin magister. See meg- in Indo-European Roots.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- master·dom n. Usage Note: Master has been a productive source of compounds in English, evidenced by words such as masterpiece, concertmaster, mastermind, and masterstroke, to name just a few. It is also used frequently on its own as a noun, verb, and adjective, with meanings ranging from “an original document that is to be copied” to “a man who serves as the head of a household.” The latter sense lends the word masculine connotations, which, along with the word's associations with the institutions of slavery, causes some people to be offended by the use of master in any form. Nonetheless, many senses of master, such as the noun sense “an expert” and the verb sense “to make oneself an expert at,” have long been thought of as gender-neutral and are in wide use. Some compounds, like masterpiece and master plan, have lost most, if not all, of their associations with maleness. They exist as distinct words, and people do not usually think of them as a combination of parts each containing a different meaning. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. **************************** http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=slave slave ( P ) Pronunciation Key (slv) n. One bound in servitude as the property of a person or household. One who is abjectly subservient to a specified person or influence: “I was still the slave of education and prejudice” (Edward Gibbon). One who works extremely hard. A machine or component controlled by another machine or component. intr.v. slaved, slav·ing, slaves To work very hard or doggedly; toil. To trade in or transport slaves. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Middle English sclave, from Old French esclave, from Medieval Latin sclvus, from Sclvus, Slav (from the widespread enslavement of captured Slavs in the early Middle Ages). See Slav.] Word History: The derivation of the word slave encapsulates a bit of European history and explains why the two words slaves and Slavs are so similar; they are, in fact, historically identical. The word slave first appears in English around 1290, spelled sclave. The spelling is based on Old French esclave from Medieval Latin sclavus, “Slav, slave,” first recorded around 800. Sclavus comes from Byzantine Greek sklabos (pronounced sklävs) “Slav,” which appears around 580. Sklavos approximates the Slavs' own name for themselves, the Slovnci, surviving in English Slovene and Slovenian. The spelling of English slave, closer to its original Slavic form, first appears in English in 1538. Slavs became slaves around the beginning of the ninth century when the Holy Roman Empire tried to stabilize a German-Slav frontier. By the 12th century stabilization had given way to wars of expansion and extermination that did not end until the Poles crushed the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald in 1410. ·As far as the Slavs' own self-designation goes, its meaning is, understandably, better than “slave” it comes from the Indo-European root *kleu-, whose basic meaning is “to hear” and occurs in many derivatives meaning “renown, fame.” The Slavs are thus “the famous people.” Slavic names ending in -slav incorporate the same word, such as Czech Bohu-slav, “God's fame,” Russian Msti-slav, “vengeful fame,” and Polish Stani-slaw, “famous for withstanding (enemies).” Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved._________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhillyKev 0 #17 November 26, 2003 QuoteIn th futur I hop thy stop this grgious, offnsiv practic. What's mor important, my flings or on littl lttr? You'r right. That sntnc maks prfct sns vn without that lttr. It's not ncssry and offnsiv. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adamT 0 #18 November 26, 2003 Quote Use the terms Primary and Secondary. As for the hard disk case, primary and secondary are already used to describe another part of the system. And primary and secondary don't accurately describe the relationship between the two devices. An IDE controller consists of 2 channels a primary channel and a secondary channel. Each channel can connect 2 devices a master and a slave. The master is in control of the channel it is connected to. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,120 #19 November 26, 2003 >Use the terms Primary and Secondary. They're not the same as master and slave. Primary refers to the first, or more important, of two items. Master refers to a controlling item. As an example - if you're designing a redundant system, you can have a primary and two secondaries, or backups. But if you have one master and two slaves, if the master fails, you have no backup. Unless the slave has a provision to control itself - in which case it's not a slave. I'm all for not using terms that offend people in everyday speech, but it's silly to change technical terms to less accurate ones. What's next? I could see all these becoming offensive: Black body radiation Male and female connectors Nuts and bolts Plugs and jacks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
