The world has become more aware of the effects of potentially harmful terms on marginalized groups in recent years. While some may classify this trend as "woke", the aim is to make the overall environment inclusive for everyone. This also extends to the world of technology, where the Academy Software Foundation (ASWF) - which comes under The Linux Foundation - and Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) have released updated guidelines for inclusive tech jargon.
As spotted by The Register, the ASWF believes that it is important to replace exclusionary language in documentation and codebases with terms that are respectful of diversity. In doing so, it emphasizes that ethnic differences between developers are welcomed and identified as strengths rather than something to ridicule. However, the foundation recognizes that unifying all codebases and documentation to forcibly use inclusive language is a mammoth effort, so instead, it has started with a baseline endeavor of publishing guidelines that encourage diversity.
Below, you"ll be able to find the recommendations for obsolete terms that the ASWF thinks that we should ditch, along with their corresponding alternatives:
| Current Term | Recommended Alternative |
|---|---|
| Master, slave | primary/main, secondary/replica |
| Owner, master | lead, manager, expert, primary |
| Blacklist/whitelist | deny/allow list, exclusion/inclusion list, etc. |
| Black box/white box | closed/open, opaque/transparent |
| Black hat/white hat | malicious hacker/approved hacker, hostile/friendly |
| Native feature/support | core feature/support, built-in feature/support |
| Pow-wow | huddle, sync, meeting |
| Culture fit | values fit |
| Housekeeping | cleanup, maintenance, logistics |
| Man hours | labor hours, work hours |
| Manpower | labor, workforce |
| Guys (referring to a group) | folks, people, engineers/artists, team |
| Girl/Girls (referring to women age 18 and older) | woman/women |
| Middleman | middle person, mediator, liaison, go-between |
| Gendered pronouns (he/him/his, she/her/hers) | they, them, theirs |
| Crazy, insane | unpredictable, unexpected, hectic |
| Normal | typical, usual |
| Abnormal | atypical, unusual |
| Sanity Check | validation check, consistency check, logic check, gut check |
| Dummy | placeholder, stub, sample |
| Grandfather, grandfathering, legacy | flagship, established, rollover, carryover |
| Crushing it, killing it | elevating, exceeding expectations, excelling |
| Hung | stalled, unresponsive |
Overall, the ASWF has recommended that we should avoid using terms with a social history with regards to various factors like race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and more. Additionally, we should be conscious of the fact that certain idioms don"t translate well across geographical boundaries, and that certain terms are very culture-specific and aren"t diverse.