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Sure, it was compulsory, but I think I still deserved credit for going.
But even with my vast wealth of knowledge, I have to admit the latest PC faux pas everyone is talking about took me a bit by surprise. Did you guys know that it's now considered politically incorrect to call technology experts "techies"?
Yeah, me either.
But apparently it is. According to this article [link]. Tech experts everywhere are getting their panties in a twist over being called techies, a term which they believe is offensive, reductive and belittling.
Huh, and I just thought it was an abbreviation.
According to the article though, they'd prefer to be called hackers, coders or makers. I can't really say that I blame them, I wouldn't mind being called a "hacker". It sounds pretty cool to me, conjuring up images of edgy looking people on pilfered laptops, always one step ahead of the FBI while they try to crack an international drug smuggling ring.
At least, that's what Hollywood has lead me to believe.
Personally, I always just associated the term techie with people who were technology professionals, in the same way I think of journalists as journos and and garbage men as garbos. Maybe they'd feel better if they were called techos? Or perhaps techers?
I mean, it worked for us Star Trek fans. Trekkies, trekkers ... potato, potahto...
But then again what do I know, I'm just an accountantie.
I just call them Nerds...is that wrong?
ReplyDeleteI aim to never offend people, I do. But, it's hard to know what offends specific groups of people. So, if it's rude to call them techies, fair enough, but this is the first time I've heard of it. I guess we're all just learning as we go...
ReplyDeleteBut, they prefer to be called "hackers"? I thought hackers purposely did damage... Hacking into places they didn't belong. Ugh, this is harder than I thought. I think I'll call everyone Dolores. Even though I'm sure that will offend a few... :)
It might just be easier to never talk to anyone ever again. The IT guys I knew never complained about being called techs or referred to as techies...in fact they referred to each other that way. Go figure. Someone out there must be bored...not enough to do guys????
ReplyDeleteI remember back in the old days when a "hacker" was just a heavy smoker who would cough up a lung every morning after getting out of bed.
ReplyDeleteGood grief mate. Things are getting worse in this PC world. We need much more than an updated dictionary every week before you even attempt to call anyone anything, just in case you case great offence. What's happening to this world?
ReplyDeleteI thought a 'hacker' was someone who got into your computers and messed things up real bad, but what do I know!
omg... what will it be next? I try not to even pay attention to political correctness and just say what I want. They can sue me if they want to. I am married to an engineer techie type and he has no problem with being called a techie. I guess it's just those overly sensitive types that it bothers. Perhaps they should take a class on toughening up and being a man. Wimps!
ReplyDeleteIf I had to guess, this was a slow news day and some half-assed pseudo-reporter found a very very small but vocal minority in the tech industry that would even care about something like this. I don't blame political correctness, I blame a lazy and sensationalist media, because this smells of chicanery.
ReplyDeleteHere in the states we have a company called The Goon Squad and they drive to your house to address your computer problems. I guess that will soon fall to the PC police.
ReplyDeleteIsn't hacking kinda sorta illegal? We usually call the computer people "geeks".
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
I think the word "hacker" sounds really unprofessional. For me a hacker is someone who is doing illegal things with computer security. Not something I want to associate with my work IT department. Plus hackers are usually portrayed as really smart. Something my IT department... isn't. I just call them IT Guys. And if I have to be more specific, I call one of the guys "orange crocs" cause that is what he wears. Yeah, I'm creative like that :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a bloody joke!
ReplyDeleteI hate political correctness with a much heated passion. I am absolutely sick to bloody death of being told what I can and can't say, what I can and can't do, what I can and can't feel.
The days where a word meant one or two things that had nothing to do with gay, intellectually disabled or so on are long gone because they now only represent one certain thing, apparently. And now they don't want to be called techies. What a bloody joke.
I too thought it was an abbreviation, like Aussies from Australians, however that's okay, but if I was to shorten Italians to Itis, Aboriginals to Abbos, Pakistanis to Pakis, apparently it's all wrong, insulting and politically incorrect.
WHAT BLOODY BULLSHIT!!!
Do we just come from the old days where an abbreviation was an abbreviation, and the non racist, non insultive brains in our heads did not even think of that bullshit that some punk arse knob decided to pull the wool over our eyes and claim it was now politically incorrect to say things people had said for decades?
WHAT BLOODY BULLSHIT!!!
I find myself asking an awful lot of people these days, "What would you like me to call you?"
ReplyDeleteAnd part of that is because I have a lot of transgender people as clients, but it's just easier to figure out the ground rules at the start with everyone.
The answers I often get are ridiculous, of course, but that's okay, because I don't like most people anyway, and having to call this person "e-STAR the Twice-Removed He/She/It Shoe Historian Extraordinaire" or something really isn't going to make me dislike this person any less.
I'm sticking with techies
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure the term "techies" is any more offensive than the phrase "panties in a twist."
ReplyDeleteThey'll get called whatever I want to call them and deal with it... Like the rest of society!!! ;0p
ReplyDeleteHugs!
Valerie
So I guess "Mama's basement dweller" is frowned on, too, huh? ;)
ReplyDeleteS
It makes me sad that the "politically correct" madness is not just an American affliction...what happened to us as a race that we let every little thing get under our skin?
ReplyDeleteLarry
I hit send too fast....
ReplyDeleteWe give words far too much power over us these days. In America, even if you are simply passing on the fact that someone called someone else a "nigger" (which is not a term I endorse, but yes, sometimes people still say it), our media will refer to it as the "N" word.
Really?
It's a word. In and of itself it cannot be offensive, so to simple report that it was used should be fine. But in America, we dance around EVERYTHING just in case on person should feel offended.
Please people of the world....let the sweet light of REASON back into our lives!
Larry Again
Agree. The Americans are quick to bash other countries for the way they treat people yet can't sort their own shit out!
DeleteI tend to try not to offend people but some groups/individuals are just over-reaching to find fault in terminology. I don't think that most people that use the word techie mean anything remotely close to an aspersion. I would think being called a hacker would be more offensive as hacking can imply criminal acts of breaking into other peoples computers.
ReplyDeleteAND yes, I think PC has become ridiculous in America but I don't think America is a solo act as far as cultural absurdities.