Modify Colors
Somewhat unsurprisingly, profanity is a lot more common in open source than in closed source software. Also not surprisingly, some people find it offensive while others view it as nothing more than an exercise of free speech.
For me it depends on the situation. Using the word f**k in kernel code comments is one thing – I highly doubt that anyone can write code for the Linux kernel without having heard the word f**k before. (See the updated Linux kernel f**k count.)
Another slightly trickier issue is Damn Small Linux. (On a side note, I don’t understand why I have to choose between recommending Puppy Linux or Damn Small Linux to people. I really can’t decide which is worse. If you find yourself in a similar situation, try NimbleX.) Anyway, aside from the abundance of strange names for small Linux distros, the Damn Small Linux FAQ says this on the topic:
Why the name?
It’s really just a way to emphasize the incredible small size of the distro. If you are offended by the name, just do what most people do. Call it “DSL”.
Yeah, great idea – until someone asks you what it stands for. And except for the fact that that happens to be the same acronym used for a very popular type of broadband internet access. (- Hey! You should try out DSL. – I already have DSL. – No, I mean the Linux distro. – The what? What does DSL stand for? – Umm, well.) This topic sparked this thread over at LXer, which happens to be one of the funniest threads ever to appear in a Linux forum.
Still, despite the awkwardness of promoting DSL (yeah, try putting that on a shirt), I have to fall on the developer’s side here. After all, it really is his or her choice. DSL has never exactly been targeted at the average user and it is very upfront about the name.
I draw the line at rudely named packages in the Ubuntu repos, though. You can’t expect people to know that there are references to profanity in obscure packages and Ubuntu does market itself to the average user. In fairness, there are only three packages that mention the word f**k and all of those references are to brainf**k, which is apparently an actual thing, in the description. Still, this should not be there. For me, though, the issue is not that some kid could see it (after all, as has been pointed out, there are many other ways kids will learn these words), but that it is not professional. I want my operating system, no matter who develops it, to appear just as professional as Windows and OS X.
Even worse, in my opinion, are the random uses of damn in descriptions of other packages. Here the word is used simply as a word, not part of a name. Sure it is all just for fun, but there are other places to joke about that sort of thing with other developers. You don’t need to do it in release software.
This is not as big of an issue as it is being made into (yeah, yeah, I know I am not helping), but it should be changed.
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What a pathetic waste of a page!! By the way – the word “Professional” is commonly used to describe a prostitute in many countries – maybe we should stop using that one….
I am offended by the use of this language. What it comes down to it, it is not professional. I constantly hear it in the work place and it truly does take away from that person’s professional demeanor. If you take away these words from a person’s dictionary, they don’t even make any sense.
I was always taught if you had nothing good to say, don’t say it at all. I think it is very generous and kind when someone takes into other consideration someone else’s feelings.
For those who commented that they consider this language to be terrible and that “they” never use it actually used it in full-swing on this blog….so they must be seriously clueless as to what is usage of the language is or is not.
By the way, the word D*** in its true form would not be considered profanity as it was commonly referred to “damnation” which means to condemn or judge something or someone…same goes for someone who is “damned (condemned)” to some form of punishment such as a jail sentence. If you look at the word in the dictionary, you will find that when the word is used flippantly without meaning to say condemned or judged in its truest sense of the word is considered profanity.
I believe the excuse that it is not considered profanity is because it is used so commonly and with things that are used commonly…the sensitivity to those words goes away with time. The same will happen with the words or word that are considered the worst of the worst, which will in time not be considered profanity by some because it is in such common usage. I wish it was not so, but it is true.
If it is offensive to some people, then why use it around them? Same applies to the N**** word? You can argue all you want about racial issues, but it depends who you are talking to and whether it is offensive to them. If it is, you ought to be considerate and not use the words.
Good article. There is nothing to be gained by irritating a whole segment of the population just to demonstrate how “liberated” we are.
You can apply the same reasons you used for justifying the “damn” in DSL also for justifying the fuck in brainfuck: It emphasizes the wierdness of the language and warns everybody that you need a realy srewed up brain if you want to do something productive with it. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck
I’d be proud if my kids would actually do research into the direction of the bf-programming language, since that does imply they did reach a certain level of geekhood.
I guess that kids rather seach google for obscenities than using synaptic for it
All that being said, I don’t advocate usage of these words. But your post is an example of how things can be acceptable if we know the background, yet the same things can be unacceptable if we do not know the background.
Agreed: Obscenities should have nothing to do in desctiptions and the like.
Haha, yeah, closed source may be more “professional,” but it’s only a veneer, just take Steve Ballmer’s chair-throwing incident… remember this?
“I’m going to fucking kill Google”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/05/chair_chucking
Haha, besides, “Damn” isn’t profanity!
Alan
I truly wish this were the worst problem we had with linux. Unfortunately it isn’t.
And in my opinion, this is a non-issue.
I think that people should stop trying to change the world to conform to their narrow views. Censorship does not work. It does not solve the problem. It prevents open communication. It is relative to the time and place in which you live.
Give us a break and find something worthwhile to write about. Enough of this and people start to caricature themselves as meddling busy bodies. Don’t like it? Don’t use it.
BTW, I don’t swear and find it as offensive as the next person, but I don’t expect that they will stop just because my delicate ears don’t like it. The solution is to teach mutual respect and tolerance and unfortunately the people most offended by bad language are the most intolerant of others and least respecting of differences. In short, they have nothing to teach. They have a plank in their proverbial eyes. They don’t like it because they don’t do it, but they close their eyes to their own faults.
Bit bored today?
Brainfuck is is fucking programming language. And by the way it’s not exactly a state of the art professional language. The name is well choosen.
And Damn Small Linux, come on. Small Linux is silly name, DSL is memorable.