Bonum Certa Men Certa

Offensive Words We Should Uproot and Eliminate From Technology

Related: Microsoft Enabling Slavery (master copy of an article from 10 years ago)

Tarantino Telling A Story: If I remove violence from all my movies then violence will cease to exist... You realise how stupid that sounds, right?



Summary: Technology is the domain of the privileged and the affluent; we can put an end to this inequality and the growing injustice by simply removing the principal barrier, which is bad words

SINCE it's nowadays fashionable to simply delete any mention of any word that someone dislikes seeing, let's go further and also remove the following technical terms:



  1. Monitor - we should say "screen" instead. Monitors are used in hospitals to observe the health of ill people. We must not cause people panic (tragedy relived), reminding them of the time they spent on life support or some near-death experience.
  2. Terminal - we must all say "shell" instead. Terminal is the state of a patient who is likely dead by now; when we say terminal it can trigger some bad memories, or someone like a long-lost loved one (often a relative or parent).
  3. Ncurses - we should speak of interactive shells; the religious user is likely to associate curses with very bad things, leading to angst.
  4. Daemon - see above. We must not remind the religious user of demons. Use buzzwords like "microservice" instead (with the caveat below).
  5. Services - this term should be reconsidered; it's too similar to servant, which is a synonym of slave in some contexts.
  6. Wiki - use the term "collaborative page" instead. Wiki is Hawaiian for “fast" or "quick" and there may be racial connotations associated with Hawaii, which is historically a disputed territory with mixed roots and language disputes.
  7. Web (or World Wide Web) - Arachnophobia means that the term can invoke negative feelings or overt fear. Use the term "Interpage" instead.
  8. Mouse - same as above, albeit fear of rodents. Say "pointing device" instead.
  9. Command/instruction/directory - this implies a relationship of subjugation and/or servitude; say "guidance" instead.
  10. Laptop - there may be sexual connotations impacting that word. So "portable computer" would be better. No more bad jokes in the workplace.
  11. Home - /home needs to be aliased or replaced by /location as some people are homeless and this directory structure may remind them of their misfortune.
  12. File manager - the term manager implies inequality; it should be called file organiser instead.


There are no reasons not to implement most of the changes above. After all, this only requires changing some texts and strings in a few places and it doesn't cost anything. What's more, if fewer people find computers offensive, then more of them will adopt computers. It will improve the diversity of computer users. ⬆

Recent Techrights' Posts

NVIDIA Down About 30% in 5 Weeks, When Does the Media Call It "Bubble" Rather Than Frame It as Sex Scandal?
they'll find a way to blame "China"
“Losing Huang Would Introduce a Lot of Uncertainty"
Huang won't last much longer
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXV - The Brand (and Reputation)
"Russell Brand sentenced to 10 years and six months for rape and sexual assault"
 
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXVI - Attempts to Kill Critics
"Epstein contacted Cambridge academics about research funding"
Gemini Links 10/11/2026: Running, Tektronix, and "Smallnet Information Services Zig Port"
Links for the day
Corporations Don't Lose 2 Trillion Dollars in 'Value' Over a 'Dick Story', This is an Overvaluation and Belated Correction
Nvidia is down, down, down again
Links 10/11/2026: "50 Years of Project Censored" and NVIDIA's Collapse Continues
Links for the day
Surreal Times
NVIDIA's shares fell 27% in 5 weeks
Links 10/11/2026: "Jensen Huang Could Face $81 Billion Divorce Bill" and "Nvidia Shareholders sue Jensen Huang"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 09, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, November 09, 2026
Gemini Links 10/11/2026: Open Problem in Computer Science Due to Bloat and "Queueing Nine Hours for an iPhone"
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Rose to 6% as Laptop/Desktop Operating System in Azerbaijan
In the past two weeks the average measure as seen by Clownflare is 5.7%
Microsoft Will Pay $11,742 USD for Workers to Leave
11 lakh Indian Rupees
Since Records Began 18 Months Ago, statCounter Saw Chatbot Usage Falling Sharply
Chatbots are not becoming more popular and the commercial world is having second thoughts
Losing Their 'Faith' in Slop
Are leather jackets becoming a "signal" of "cheating on the wife"?
Protestants at the EPO Fight On, Rising in Opposition to and Against Corruption, Also Against GAFAM
Don't say we didn't warn you...
Boosters of Non-reciprocal Licensing Are Just Trying to Cancel Richard Stallman (RMS) and His Baby, GNU
If only they liked freedom as much as they love Microsoft (or Microsoft's GitHub, which is proprietary and unsafe)
Gemini Links 09/11/2026: Zephyr, Wireless Planet, and Old E-mail
Links for the day
IBM: From Illegal NDAs to Illegal Secret Settlements (Money in Exchange for Promise Not to Sue)
Insiders also explain why RAs may come weeks from now [...] IBM has marked 40,000 workers it wishes to get rid of
When Some Footage Causes Your 'Company' to Lose Almost Half a Trillion Dollars in 'Value' in a Few Minutes Your Company is Fictionally Valued
stock slips 8% because the CEO cheats on the wife
Links 09/11/2026: 'Humanitarian' Putin Knocks 600,000 Civilians Off the Grid, Eminem’s Publisher Sues Suno
Links for the day
Like Crooked Politicians, The Register MS is Selling "Dinners" (Access, Sponsors)
Talk about "hey hi".
The Register MS is Not Objective Regarding "AI", It's Paid by Pushers of the Pyramid Scheme (including Nvidia)
Some time soon we'll name some companies that pay millions to The Register MS in order to cement their role in the house of cards (while it lasts)
GAFAM Moribund
A lot of what we say about Microsoft in respect to debt is equally applicable to the rest of GAFAM
NVIDIA as a Scam Company Run by Scammers Who Fake Demand for Their Waste of Energy (Subsidising GPU Sales for Use Cases That Don't Exist)
First they targeted gamers, then fake 'currencies' (which turned out to be a bust), now it's slop (obfuscation of plagiarism using brute force and fusion) [...] We're quite glad that Huang publicly broadcasts how untrustworthy he is
Links 09/11/2026: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Cheats on Wife With A Suspected Chinese Spy, "400,000 Russians Killed in Battle Since 2022 Invasion"
Links for the day
Zero Tolerance for Slop
very few sites that dabbled in slop ended up well off (for it)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 08, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, November 08, 2026
Gemini Links 09/11/2026: "The Blue Wave Won't Save Us" and "Discoverability Is Only Solved If You Can Be Discovered"
Links for the day
IBM 'Robbery': No More Car Allowance in the UK, Severance Shredded, CEO Pay Up 51% in One Year While Thousands Laid Off in Secret
Why does a CEO reward himself so much when the company does so badly?
Digitalisation Is Not Inevitable or Unavoidable
Nor inescapable
Gemini Links 08/11/2026: "Back", Zot, and Information Overload
Links for the day
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXIV - Why the Swatting Failed
After that we only ever heard from or spoke to cops when we invited them to our home to collect evidence
“Concerned Microsoft Workers” Say “Working at Microsoft Has Become Joyless and Demoralizing.” (That's What Microsoft Wants, More Will Leave That Way)
Many Microsoft employees are going to leave
The Register MS is Losing Hundreds of Thousands of Pounds a Year While Directors Pay Themselves Hundreds of Thousands of Pounds a Year in Dividends
they take money from slop pushers and have clearly compromised some journalistic standards in the process
GNU/Linux Measured at 7.4% in the UK This Weekend: Clownflare Radar
I hope that one day GNU/Linux will be everywhere here
Never a One-Person Project
Just because I'm the main "public face" of the site (who takes all the insults and SLAPPs) doesn't mean I deserve all the credit
“I Always Expect to Lose. I Fight Anyway, and Sometimes I Win.” — Richard Stallman
To change the world meaningfully people must think big
Stop Looking for News About "Layoffs", Layoffs Are Over (They've Been Rebranded)
To properly assess the status quo we need other yardsticks
Links 08/11/2026: Bosses Who Were Forcing Their Workers to Use Slop Change Mind, "Rapper RBX Files Ninth Circuit Appeal in Fraud-Focused Class Action Lawsuit Against Spotify"
Links for the day
Links 08/11/2026: Why Vikings Stayed in Iceland and "TikTok Accused Of Promoting Sex Industry To Young Girls"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/11/2026: "Before Sunrise" and LLM Scrapers Versus Self-Hosting (or Web in General)
Links for the day
Intercontinental Brigading - Part XXXXIII - Weaponising Cops in Another Continent (Europe), Knowing They Cannot Come to Your Home in America, While Threatening Women
This year it culminated in death threats
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 07, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, November 07, 2026