Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.arch.embedded > #30193

Re: Alternative terms for master and slave

Show all headers | View raw

On 15/12/2020 16:07, Grant Edwards wrote:
> On 2020-12-15, David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> wrote:
> 
>> And of course in electronics we have male connectors and female connectors.
> 
> I remember about 35 years ago, when I said something about a male or
> female connector within earshot of my girlfriend. She asked why
> they're called male and female and how do you decide which is which?
> 
> I picked up two connectors, showed them to her and then plugged them
> together.
> 
> She was horrified.
> 

I can understand these things being a surprise, or possibly even
offensive, to people unfamiliar with the particular field.  But when the
terms are everyday technical terms, people using them do not associate
them with the same things.  When you decide if the coax connector on a
board is to be male or female, you are thinking about the physical
connector - not human body parts.  (You might think about human body
parts next time you do have a connector - but that is only because we
have been discussing them in that way.)

You have a similar effect in human language with swearing.  People never
mean these /literally/, or think about the real meaning of the words
when they swear.  (It can be fun when first seeing swear words in
different languages, if you translate them literally because you don't
know they are common curses.)

For people who work with SPI buses, talking about an "SPI master" and an
"SPI slave" makes them think of microcontrollers and eeproms, not a
scene from "Gone with the Wind" or "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom".

And if someone thinks it is a problem that the words "master" and
"slave" (or "male" and "female") are used in these contexts, then they
should stay out of that kind of conversation - they don't understand it
anyway.

Back to comp.arch.embedded | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

Alternative terms for master and slave Brad Eckert <hwfwguy@gmail.com> - 2020-12-15 01:32 -0800
  Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Reinhardt Behm <rbehm@hushmail.com> - 2020-12-15 17:56 +0800
  Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Niklas Holsti <niklas.holsti@tidorum.invalid> - 2020-12-15 11:57 +0200
    Re: Alternative terms for master and slave George Neuner <gneuner2@comcast.net> - 2020-12-15 17:38 -0500
      Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Rick C <gnuarm.deletethisbit@gmail.com> - 2020-12-15 15:33 -0800
  Re: Alternative terms for master and slave David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-12-15 11:59 +0100
    Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2020-12-15 15:07 +0000
      Re: Alternative terms for master and slave David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-12-15 16:41 +0100
    Re: Alternative terms for master and slave upsidedown@downunder.com - 2020-12-15 18:07 +0200
      Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2020-12-15 10:59 -0700
        Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Robert Roland <fake@ddress.no> - 2020-12-18 15:32 +0100
          Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2020-12-18 07:56 -0700
    Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Rick C <gnuarm.deletethisbit@gmail.com> - 2020-12-15 08:34 -0800
      Re: Alternative terms for master and slave David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-12-15 19:57 +0100
        Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2020-12-15 19:13 +0000
          Re: Alternative terms for master and slave David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-12-16 08:59 +0100
            Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> - 2020-12-17 17:04 +0000
              Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2020-12-17 11:35 -0700
              Re: Alternative terms for master and slave David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2020-12-17 20:25 +0100
      Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Niklas Holsti <niklas.holsti@tidorum.invalid> - 2020-12-15 21:28 +0200
        Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Tom Gardner <spamjunk@blueyonder.co.uk> - 2020-12-15 19:37 +0000
    Re: Alternative terms for master and slave kegs@provalid.com (Kent Dickey) - 2020-12-19 15:41 -0600
      Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Dimiter_Popoff <dp@tgi-sci.com> - 2020-12-20 17:39 +0200
        Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2020-12-20 18:17 +0000
          Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Dimiter_Popoff <dp@tgi-sci.com> - 2020-12-20 23:23 +0200
            Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Hans-Bernhard Bröker <HBBroeker@t-online.de> - 2020-12-20 23:56 +0100
              Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Dimiter_Popoff <dp@tgi-sci.com> - 2020-12-21 17:29 +0200
                Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Hans-Bernhard Bröker <HBBroeker@t-online.de> - 2020-12-21 23:44 +0100
                Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Dimiter_Popoff <dp@tgi-sci.com> - 2020-12-22 23:36 +0200
  Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> - 2020-12-15 06:30 -0700
    Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Hans-Bernhard Bröker <HBBroeker@t-online.de> - 2020-12-15 22:26 +0100
  Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Rick C <gnuarm.deletethisbit@gmail.com> - 2020-12-15 08:55 -0800
    Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Michael Kellett <mk@mkesc.co.uk> - 2020-12-17 07:30 +0000
      Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Rick C <gnuarm.deletethisbit@gmail.com> - 2020-12-17 17:58 -0800
  Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Brett <ggtgp@yahoo.com> - 2020-12-19 02:03 +0000
    Re: Alternative terms for master and slave Hans-Bernhard Bröker <HBBroeker@t-online.de> - 2020-12-20 01:08 +0100

csiph-web