[erlang-questions] Coon - new tool for building Erlang packages, dependency management and deploying Erlang services

[Antonio SJ Musumeci]

"Coon is a racial slur, there is no other use of the word."

That's simply false and takes next to no time to prove as much.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/coon

noun
1.
raccoon <http://www.dictionary.com/browse/raccoon>.
2.
Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to
refer to a black person.
3.
a rustic or undignified person.

Word Origin and History for coon
n.

short for raccoon <http://www.dictionary.com/browse/raccoon>, 1742, American
English. It was the nickname of Whig Party members in U.S. c.1848-60, as the
raccoon was the party's symbol, and it also had associations with
frontiersmen (who stereotypically wore raccoon-skin caps), which probably
ultimately was the source of the Whig Party sense (the party's 1840 campaign
was built on a false image of wealthy William Henry Harrison as a rustic
frontiersman).

The insulting U.S. meaning "black person" was in use by 1837, said to be
ultimately from Portuguese barracoos "building constructed to hold slaves
for sale." No doubt boosted by the enormously popular blackface minstrel act
"Zip Coon" (George Washington Dixon) which debuted in New York City in 1834.
But it is perhaps older (one of the lead characters in the 1767 colonial
comic opera "The Disappointment" is a black man named Raccoon). Coon's age
is 1843, American English, probably an alteration of British a crow's age.

The word coon has long been used as a short to raccoon. As someone who grew
up in a rural area where raccoons regularly killed chickens, ate pet food,
and got into people's things I assure you it was in common usage. We also
shortened coyote to coyot.

Outside that...

* Coon Mountain: http://adirondacklandtrust.org/Explore/Coon-Mountain
* Coon Mountain crater: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_Crater
* Coon Creek: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coon_Creek
* Coon Rapids: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coon_Rapids,_Minnesota
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coon_Rapids,_Iowa
* coonhound: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coonhound
* coon hunting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coon_hunting
* The Coon: A South Park character: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Coon


On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 11:52 AM, Chris Duesing <chris.duesing@REDACTED>
wrote:

> I can't believe this "discussion" is happening. Coon is a racial slur,
> there is no other use of the word. The fact that a bunch of white Europeans
> are pointing out that the dozen people involved in this thread aren't
> offended simply shows the lack of diversity in the mailing list. The "oh
> I'm butthurt because other people get offended by things" is fucking
> ridiculous. It is a racial slur, period. If this isn't a library only
> intended to be used by racist fucks then rename it.
>
> On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 10:28 AM, nx <nx@REDACTED> wrote:
>
>> For what it's worth, the first thing I thought of when I saw the title of
>> this thread was "that is a racist slur". I've also never heard anyone call
>> a raccoon a coon.
>>
>> The news that cowboy was named for "cowboys kill apaches" is
>> disappointing.
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 11:22 AM Fred Hebert <mononcqc@REDACTED> wrote:
>>
>>> What I'm saying is that it does not matter how I interpret things. I
>>> asked and the author said publicly it was a raccoon. I'm okay with that
>>> explanation and I'm ready to believe it.
>>>
>>> My point is that other people won't ask the author, won't know who he
>>> is, and will pick an interpretation and stick with it. They won't need the
>>> context, they won't need anything. They'll just do it. The name can be
>>> interpreted in a racist way, and so it's pretty much guaranteed that it
>>> will be eventually interpreted that way. The author is free to go ahead and
>>> keep the name, and the users and onlookers will be free to read whatever
>>> they want in that name.
>>>
>>> That is 100% my point.
>>>
>>> On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 11:17 AM, Krzysztof Jurewicz <
>>> krzysztof.jurewicz@REDACTED> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Fred Hebert writes:
>>>>
>>>> > Anyone is of course free to name their software whatever they want.
>>>> Picking
>>>> > a racist name is however never going to be consequences-free as this
>>>> e-mail
>>>> > thread first shows on the first day of release, and adoption figures
>>>> may
>>>> > also reflect it.
>>>>
>>>> Merriam-Webster online dictionary (naming itself as “America’s
>>>> most-trusted online dictionary”) says that there two meanings of “coon”:
>>>>
>>>> ⒈ raccoon;
>>>> ⒉ offensive — used as an insulting and contemptuous term for a black
>>>> person.
>>>>
>>>> I presume that context matters. What makes you think that in this
>>>> context this word means ⒉? Wikipedia in the article about raccoon says that
>>>> is also known coloquially as “coon”, so I guess this is not a very uncommon
>>>> usage.
>>>>
>>>> Or are you saying that non-racist usages of words that have also racist
>>>> meanings should be eventually abandoned?
>>>>
>>>> (I’m not a native speaker, so bear with my eventual ignorance).
>>>>
>>>
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>>
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