NASA Ditching 'Insensitive' Nicknames for Cosmic Objects (cnet.com) 184
NASA is "reconsidering how we talk about space," reports CNET:
NASA gave two examples of cosmic objects it'll no longer use nicknames for. Planetary nebula NGC 2392 has been called the "Eskimo Nebula." "'Eskimo' is widely viewed as a colonial term with a racist history, imposed on the indigenous people of Arctic regions," NASA explained. NASA already added a note to a 2008 image release showing NGC 2392 that explains the decision to retire the nickname.
The agency will also use only the official designations of NGC 4567 and NGC 4568 to refer to a pair of spiral galaxies that were known as the "Siamese Twins Galaxy."
This reexamination of cosmic names is ongoing.
CNN explains NASA's rationale: "Nicknames are often more approachable and public-friendly than official names for cosmic objects, such as Barnard 33, whose nickname 'the Horsehead Nebula' invokes its appearance," NASA said in a release this week. "But often seemingly innocuous nicknames can be harmful and detract from the science...."
The space agency says it "will use only the official, International Astronomical Union designations in cases where nicknames are inappropriate."
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, DC, said, "Science is for everyone, and every facet of our work needs to reflect that value."
The agency will also use only the official designations of NGC 4567 and NGC 4568 to refer to a pair of spiral galaxies that were known as the "Siamese Twins Galaxy."
This reexamination of cosmic names is ongoing.
CNN explains NASA's rationale: "Nicknames are often more approachable and public-friendly than official names for cosmic objects, such as Barnard 33, whose nickname 'the Horsehead Nebula' invokes its appearance," NASA said in a release this week. "But often seemingly innocuous nicknames can be harmful and detract from the science...."
The space agency says it "will use only the official, International Astronomical Union designations in cases where nicknames are inappropriate."
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, DC, said, "Science is for everyone, and every facet of our work needs to reflect that value."
Rename the Eskimo nebula (Score:3)
Re:Rename the Eskimo nebula (Score:5, Insightful)
Horsehead Nebula? (Score:5, Funny)
Give it a few weeks, and someone will send in a letter complaining about the Horsehead Nebula because they fell off a pony when they were six.
Re:Horsehead Nebula? (Score:4, Insightful)
The Snowflakes will sadly never stop having feels. Worrying about a generation that never grew up is no way to go through life.
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I think it's hilarious watching the perpetually offended delicate snowflakes lose their shit whenever a came like this happens. Odd comment about never growing up, they seem to skew old if anything.
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NGC (Score:5, Funny)
The acronym NGC will be offensive at some point.
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Why would the acronym for "Nigga, Go Crusin'!" be offensive?
now what? (Score:5, Funny)
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[This comment has been posted to ensure that readers know that insure and ensure are different.]
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The grandparent's misspelling offends me, and your correction also offends me.
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Your casual dismissal of my offendedness triggers me!
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The Lone Ranger's horse is offended at your appropriation of his name.
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Doh! Sorry, I had a Biden moment.
singularities (Score:5, Funny)
Black Holes will henceforth be known as Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Zones and White Holes as Cracker Egresses.
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I recently went to a restaurant (outdoor dining of course) where they told me they have renamed their "Black Manhattan" cocktail to a "Dark Manhattan" out of sensitivity to recent times, so this is only one step removed from reality.
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Still named after an island stolen by the white man. /s
Don't worry, "peaceful protests" over that will be coming.
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Why didn't they take the full step and call it a Dark Personheadweartan?
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hey their mass-energy and spacetime is going down the drain faster than light, how is that not socioeconomic disadvantage. Yet you imagined something else, very telling.
While we are re-naming objects in space... (Score:2)
Honest question (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is the term Siamese twins offensive? The term comes from famous conjoined twins who were from Siam. How does that differ from the Marburg virus, West Nile fever, Dengue fever, etc.
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What make you think there has to be a reason? [youtube.com]
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How does that differ from the Marburg virus, West Nile fever, Dengue fever, etc.
It doesn't. Which is precisely why the WHO published guidelines a few years ago on no longer naming viruses after places where they were discovered and precisely why the only people who called COVID-19 the WuFlu rather than its official name are racist fuckwits.
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nearly all of which are shit. No person-to-person spread, masks don't work, no presymtomatic spread, it's a 'respiratory virus', etc.
Okay sorry my triggered Republican friend. You don't seem to understand the difference between published guidelines on naming of viruses, and the WHO's purpose of disseminating the information from governments intact in the way those governments want.
Mind you your claim that the WHO said masks don't work shows you've never actually read any WHO document guideline or otherwise since they have recommended wearing the masks for medical workers from the beginning, stated they have no scientific basis for or aga
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So since circuses also tended to have the strong man, should they now be called differently muscled? Do we need to redact Peanuts when Lucy called Charlie Brown a blockhead?
But yeah, apparently the strategy to eliminate discrimination is to scrub away all mention of minorities. Hopefully, the big purge of all things history won't make people forget what a bad idea it was to try to eliminate the minorities themselves.
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Though the strong man is an interesting circus example, it seems likely on the order of tomorrow's msnbc article critical of the President, that the bearded ladies might have a, ahem, stronger case for social justice.
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Well there was the push to remove "grandfather" clauses etc recently, along with the word 'master'. So that's just a knee-jerk reaction to any mention of anything male in this case. However something that's "grandfathered" by definition means something that's out of date and irrelevant, so it's hard to see how this in any way turns women off from working in the industry. If they switched that to "grandmothered" to have the meaning of obsolete and old-fashioned would that be less sexist or more sexist?
I thin
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Almost forgot: buttons to enable or "disable" a feature. These clearly have to go! Ableism.
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1) Siamese twins was used in various freak shows and circuses; make it offensive to remind people of that. 2) It mentions siam now thailand. This singles out that country and appropriates it by other people.
So the justification to label something offensive is not in the accuracy, but because of bad memories?
Mind telling me what we're going to do about the Vietnam Conflict then? Korean War? Hell of lot more than just a freak show that went on there. Horrific history? You bet. Anyone talking about renaming those? No, because the terms are factually accurate. We renaming the Franco-Prussian War simply because Prussia no longer exists? Uh, no.
"Hitler"? "Reich"? Yeah, we might as well just remove those wo
Living under a rock? (Score:5, Funny)
> Men and Women were also people in freak shows, but we don't consider man or woman to be offensive
I see you've been stuck under a rock for the last few years. Wow are you going to be shocked when you read the news.
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Person woman man camera TV.
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Oddly enough, that was not only with Chang and Eng's consent, they actively promoted themselves and were fairly prosperous as a result, even after their slaves were emancipated in the Civil War.
Other popular spectacles of the era included the blockhead and the geek.
I can certainly see why the term "conjoined twins" would be the preferred term for people other than Chang and Eng who are conjoined (few of whom come from the region formerly known as Siam), but since the term Siamese was never particularly dero
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How is acknowledging the origin of the term in exploitation "erasing history"? It's recognizing history and making people aware of it.
Also do you really think that if someone agrees to something they can't be exploited?
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This isn't mere acknowledgement. This is obliteration of references. It's the difference between acknowledging that Mark Twain used a few words we now find 'unfortunate' vs. pulling his books from the library shelf and pretending they never were. That would be quite a shame considering that his thinking was far more progressive than we now find his word choice.
As I said, Chang and Eng didn't merely consent, they actively promoted themselves as a spectacle for decades after they fired their manager. If that
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It's not like they are deleting these stars from the records. And the nickname of a star is hardly comparable to a notable literary work that has immense cultural and historical significance.
Chang and Eng lived at a time when merely being conjoined twins meant it was going to be very difficult for them to get other types of work and earn a decent living. There was little understanding of their condition, to say the least. Otherwise why would people pay them money just to gawk at them?
Their initial "contract
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Sure, but that's not the same as redacting history by changing the names of existing diseases.
The Limey Honky Nebula (Score:2)
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The big difficulty is that there are many people native to the circumpolar region who are not actually Inuit, and there's no good single replacement meaning "native to the circumpolar region."
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It's a question of power - the difference between punching up, and punching down.
Punching up, speaking truth to power, etc., is generally considered fair game, so long as you don't punch below the belt (and maybe even then, depending on how far up you're punching).
On the other hand, almost everyone can agree that kicking someone while they're down is a dick move.
The British conquered the fucking world - they came to define "normal" across much of the world through genocide and other ruthless applications of
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So long as you're only considering rudeness I agree.
However, there's still a difference between you being rude to your boss, who can rant at you or fire your ass in retribution, and your boss being rude to you when you just have to swallow it because you really need the job.
The latter is not just rude, it's also an abuse of power.
Sigh. (Score:5, Interesting)
Those names of celestial objects were never intended to be offensive. And there is, in my mind, a large question as to who was actually offended by them.
P.S.: It is my understanding that Eskimo is the proper name for a particular group living in the area of Hudson's Bay. Also the many Innuit find it offensive, because it's not their name. But when speaking English very few people call the Germans Deutsch. And if they do they're likely to pronounce it Dutch...which refers to a different group of people who also don't call themselves that.
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And thus the confusion over the term Pennsylvania Dutch (who were actually German).
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Re:Sigh. (Score:4)
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To nitpick a bit - "the people" is a very different concept than "people". "the people" pretty much has an implied context - "the people who live on the glacier", "the people who came over the sea", etc.
Just because I say you are not one of the people (who ______), does not mean that I am saying you are not a person. Just that you aren't ________.
That still tends to be quite rude if you're a member of the dominant culture, since in the modern world pretty much anyone who's not a member of the dominant cul
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People are often proud of their heritage and/or place of birth. Go down to Texas and start calling everyone Californians because you jus
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Those names of celestial objects were never intended to be offensive.
Offense is taken not given. The intent however pure it may be does not change the ability for something to offend. Now as to whether we should capitulate to every complaint dreamt up by the perpetually offended, that's a different question.
Paraphrasing someone.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Paraphrasing someone.. (Score:5, Insightful)
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If there are any Dutch here (real ones, not ersatz-Germans) you might recognise the term 'miesmuizers' as another alternative for the Perennially Indignant, coined by Annie M.G. Schmidt for her children's musical "Het fluitje van één cent". Their fate was to be pulled in to a barge used to collect vegetable peelings ("de schillenschuit") where they were held with an invisible rope. She wrote this in 1960, amazing how prescient she was...
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stick to rocket science (Score:3)
no free passes from me just because you know why Han couldn't really have made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs
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no free passes from me just because you know why Han couldn't really have made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs
What are you talking about. A Parsec is a unit of distance. Did you not watch the Solo movie? Han decided to not go through a curvy corkscrew convoluted path (there was a star destroyer in the way) and instead made a straight line through the Akkadese Maelstrom. Admittedly I didn't check the scale on the map but I assume that distance he covered was only 12 parsecs from Kessel out of the Maelstrom.
Starwars is like politics, when someone makes a SNAFU while speaking or writing a script they just adjust the u
Eskimo racist? (Score:2)
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In this respect it is the same as the word "Roma" which is used instead of "Gypsy". Not all gypsies are Roma but we're still supposed to call them such.
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I just watched a Netflix show in Romania, where they were using both terms to refer to themselves. Just to be clear, I'm not disagreeing with you. Just pointing out that I think this whole finding offense thing went way out of hand when we started becoming "politically correct". If you find something offensive that wasn't intended to be, then it's your problem and fuck off.
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They should rename all the planets too (Score:2)
They're all named after Roman deities. Surely it's bound to offend some religious denomination or other.
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The planets are named after Hindu deities in the Indian languages and after Chinese Heavenly spirits in Chinese.
Assuming the English names are the names everyone uses is the worst kind of cultural arrogance.
Go stand in a corner and check your privilege (Just kidding)
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The official IAU names are the European names though.
The college degree (Score:2)
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all of them - the studies are usually called fancy titles like "colonial and african studies" or "women's studies" or the like, but they all fall in to a general category known as "grievance studies".
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Reminds me of when I took a junior level class back in the early 80s, titled "Introduction to The Sociology of Deviant Behavior". I thought it was going to be an easy A until during the first lecture by the female professor that she was offended by the term "lady".
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Probably someone from this thread. People here are incredibly offended about this name change.
They don't care about the racial groups involved, and they don't care about astronomical nomenclature, but the idea that someone changed something precisely to avoid these kinds of discussions in future has made them go red with outrage.
First the came for Pluto (Score:2)
Uranus... (Score:2)
Why not rename Uranus?
It really is a problem. While I believe it is not really a problem among scientists, talk about it to a bunch of teenagers and all you are going to get are jokes about "your anus". If you want "distraction from science", you have it. So much that scientists prefer to use an alternative pronunciation, which is also correct, but if it wasn't for the joke, "your anus" would likely have been preferred.
I am only half joking here, even though Uranus is the official name and the Eskimo Nebula
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There's an alternate pronunciation that largely solves the "yer anus" problem. Just pronounce it "urine-us". Wait... is that better?
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There is only one correct pronunciation and that is the latin one, which has nothing much to do with "your anus".
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The problem with going with what the ancients said would mean that the math letter PI would be pronounced 'pee'.
It doesn't mean your result is wrong just your reason.
Do modern Greeks pronounce it 'pie' or 'pee'?
P.S. We need more talking about people's anuses.
Without the stigma maybe people with real medical needs could be helped.
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If you pronounce it properly, as in how the Romans pronounced the name of the deity in ancient times, it is not a problem.
Oo - RAH - nuss
If you mispronounce the second syllable more like 'ray' than 'rah', it starts to resemble something akin to a joke than 10 year olds find funny. It gets even worse in some dialects of english which may tend to put a voiced palatal approximant consanant in front of most words that otherwise begin with a close back rounded vowel.
But properly pronounced, it doesn't r
NASA helps (Score:2)
Ugh (Score:5, Insightful)
No matter what your politics, I think we can agree the liberals are insane on this one. Everything is racist apparently, and it's not the conservatives who keep bringing it up.
A nation of bedwetters (Score:2)
America may be the first nation to die of mass bedwetting.
What is the problem? (Score:2)
This is the logical outcome of the political/social positions held by the majority of techies, or at least the majority who post here.
What did you think was going to happen?
When you get on a train going a certain direction, eventually you are going to arrive somewhere. It's no good saying now that you didn't want to go there.
PC gone crazy (Score:5, Insightful)
I am a minority myself but it seems to me we have gone overboard with the political correctness.
Whats next?
African American Holes?
The Sun is a Asian American Sequence star and expansion of the universe causes a Native American shift?
Sometimes words are just words not slurs.
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Political correctness meets cancel culture.
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African American Holes?
That is offensive to the very much not African-American European who postulated their existence.
So no more... (Score:2)
Makes Sense (Score:2)
Not too long ago, most of us humans weren’t sure where or when our next meal would happen, or if we would have shelter for the winter. Life expectancies were in the mid-30’s, and infant mortality was in double digits.
Those are kind of problems we evolved to solve. The human brain needs problems to solve.
Now, what happens when you take away the need to find food, find shelter, and what happens when you remove all reasonable threat of homelessness, invasion, and plagues that make Corona look like
Siamese twins (Score:2)
Is "Siamese twin" really that bad? We don't even call it Siam anymore. We never should have anyway, that was stupid Europeans being stupid again. Thailand has always been known as Mueang Thai by the people that count, the ones who live there!
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Yeah that's what we need. More obscure difficult to remember names. That'll definitely make the world a better place for everyone and draw people into science. i really do hope you're trolling.
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I really have to wonder - were 18th century French aristocrats this oblivious and so lacking in self-awareness as they were getting dragged off to the guillotine?
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It's not about the name change. It's about the petty tyrants who get off on making other people do things under the guise of politeness, and political entryism.
It starts with the stuff that's inconsistent with their politics (rename something that might be slightly 'off', trying to fire someone over a shirt), then it switches to adding things that explicitly favor their politics ("The BLM Nebula", hiring quotas), and the next th
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I think you'll find that its the ones calling for changes "because its offensive" (nobody mention who gets to decide what's offensive or not) who are the ones fighting history.
And their odds are piss poor, but only after they've inflicted massive trauma on the world and had their fascist asses handed to them by the rest, who eventually get fed up of them.
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I think its amusing that the people two doors down are calling themselves nigga every other word but im suposta be worried about Eskimo Nebula
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I want to know who the fuck is offended by all of this shit. Are actual Eskimos offended or is it just some attention-seeking, white, American millennials and zoomers who are virtue signalling and pretending they are doing something with their worthless lives?
Here is what Oxford says about Eskimo:
Eskimo
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NOUN (eskimo, eskimos)
1 A member of an indigenous people inhabiting northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland, and eastern Siberia, and traditionally living by hunting seals and other Arctic animals and birds and by fishing.
2 [mass noun] Either of the two main languages spoken by indigenous peoples of the Arctic (Inuit and Yupik), comprising a major division of the Eskimo-Aleut family.
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ADJECTIVE
Relating to the Eskimos or their languages.
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Usage
In recent years the word Eskimo has come to be regarded as offensive (partly through the associations of the now discredited etymology ‘one who eats raw flesh’). The peoples inhabiting the regions from the central Canadian Arctic to western Greenland prefer to call themselves Inuit. The term Eskimo, however, continues to be the only term which can be properly understood as applying to the people as a whole and is still widely used in anthropological and archaeological contexts.
--
Origin
Via French Esquimaux, possibly from Spanish esquimao, esquimal, from Montagnais ayaskimew ‘person who laces a snowshoe’, probably applied first to the Micmac and later to the Eskimo (see husky).
I ask because I have actually heard white Americans claim that the term "Oriental" is somehow offensive, yet I don't know a single Oriental person (myself and my family included) who consider it to be offensive. I
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Yeah, my understanding is that the term is seen as offensive in (predominantly Inuit) Greenland and Canada, and they want only to be referred to as Inuit. But in Alaska, the Yupik generally refer to themselves as eskimos when not using the specific term Yupik, and that native peoples in general in Alaska aren't offended by the word - seeing it as just a general term for native arctic peoples. And that Yupiks are generally annoyed by people trying to be politically correct in avoiding the term eskimo and ref
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Now that NASA has renamed these racist celestial objects, all oppression has come to an end.
Therefore, we don't have to rename the GIMP.
Funny how this was labeled "Troll".
We're literally here discussing the problem of trolling the fucking dictionary looking for "offensive" words. And yes, we now have to get rid of the word "Troll", because it's now offensive to fans of imaginary cave dwellers.
Yeah. Go ahead. Label me a Troll, and I'll label you a Hypocrite.
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They're still to rename black matter, black holes and so on. So there's still a lot of racism.