Path: csiph.com!usenet.pasdenom.info!weretis.net!feeder1.news.weretis.net!feeder.erje.net!eu.feeder.erje.net!newsfeed.xs4all.nl!newsfeed2.news.xs4all.nl!xs4all!newsgate.cistron.nl!newsgate.news.xs4all.nl!post.news.xs4all.nl!not-for-mail Return-Path: X-Original-To: python-list@python.org Delivered-To: python-list@mail.python.org X-Spam-Status: OK 0.025 X-Spam-Evidence: '*H*': 0.95; '*S*': 0.00; 'subject:Python': 0.06; 'comment,': 0.09; 'received:80.91': 0.09; 'received:80.91.229': 0.09; 'received:gmane.org': 0.09; 'received:list': 0.09; "(i'm": 0.16; 'kern': 0.16; 'naming': 0.16; 'python".': 0.16; 'received:80.91.229.3': 0.16; 'received:plane.gmane.org': 0.16; 'roy': 0.16; 'subject: \n ': 0.16; 'underlying': 0.16; 'variants': 0.16; 'weapon': 0.16; 'thursday,': 0.16; ':-)': 0.16; 'language': 0.16; 'wrote:': 0.18; 'obviously': 0.18; 'module': 0.19; 'pointed': 0.19; 'thu,': 0.19; '>>>': 0.22; 'header:User-Agent:1': 0.23; 'either.': 0.24; 'interpret': 0.24; 'stick': 0.24; 'subject:community': 0.24; 'source': 0.25; 'header:X-Complaints- To:1': 0.27; 'header:In-Reply-To:1': 0.27; 'chris': 0.29; 'robert': 0.30; 'especially': 0.30; "i'm": 0.30; '-0700,': 0.31; "d'aprano": 0.31; 'steven': 0.31; 'subject:the': 0.34; 'common': 0.35; 'but': 0.35; 'really': 0.36; 'subject:?': 0.36; 'similar': 0.36; 'should': 0.36; 'list': 0.37; 'to:addr:python-list': 0.38; 'sure': 0.39; 'to:addr:python.org': 0.39; 'mailing': 0.39; 'received:org': 0.40; 'guy': 0.60; 'first': 0.61; 'name': 0.63; 'term': 0.63; 'group,': 0.63; 'our': 0.64; 'fashion': 0.64; 'more': 0.64; 'p.s.': 0.66; 'world': 0.66; 'believe': 0.68; 'smith': 0.68; 'centuries': 0.84; 'eco': 0.84; 'end.': 0.84; 'fish': 0.84; 'pike': 0.84; 'terrible': 0.84; 'british': 0.87; 'comedy': 0.93; '2013': 0.98 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ To: python-list@python.org From: Robert Kern Subject: Re: Sexism in the Ruby community: how does the Python community manage it? Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 15:08:50 +0100 References: <2013101623133337485-owenjacobson@grimoireca> <5260a7a2$0$29981$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: 213.1.240.226 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.8; rv:17.0) Gecko/20130801 Thunderbird/17.0.8 In-Reply-To: <5260a7a2$0$29981$c3e8da3$5496439d@news.astraweb.com> X-BeenThere: python-list@python.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.15 Precedence: list List-Id: General discussion list for the Python programming language List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Newsgroups: comp.lang.python Message-ID: Lines: 34 NNTP-Posting-Host: 2001:888:2000:d::a6 X-Trace: 1382105352 news.xs4all.nl 15990 [2001:888:2000:d::a6]:50260 X-Complaints-To: abuse@xs4all.nl Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:57047 On 2013-10-18 04:14, Steven D'Aprano wrote: > On Thu, 17 Oct 2013 10:16:24 -0700, Roy Smith wrote: > >> On Thursday, October 17, 2013 11:07:48 AM UTC-4, Chris Angelico wrote: >>> Module names should be descriptive, not fancy. >> >> Interesting comment, on a mailing list for a language named after a >> snake, especially by a guy who claims to prefer an language named after >> a fish :-) > > It's not named after a snake, but after a British comedy group, "Monty > Python". And I daresay that Pike is named after a long stick with a spike > and axe on the end. Just 'cos that would be cooler than naming it after > the fish. > > (I'm not sure whether the fish was named after the weapon, or the weapon > after the fish. But I'm pretty sure one was named after the other.) Common parent more like. "pike" or "pick" or any number of similar variants was a more general term applied to things with a pointed tip. The fish name is a shortening of "pike-fish", so it's obviously not the source of the word. The weapon only really comes into fashion a couple of centuries after the fish's name is first recorded, so it's not the source either. P.S. It's nice to have access to an electronic copy of the OED. -- Robert Kern "I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth." -- Umberto Eco