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

[Jesper Louis Andersen]

There is also "Maine Coon", which is a cat breed.

Personally, I'd do two things:

1. I'm interested in the etymology of the word in
Russian/Ukrainian/Belarussian etc and why that name was chosen in the first
place.
2. I'd probably change the name. There is a well known proof assistant
named "Coq" (french for "Rooster"). Apart from snickers and giggles, one
has to make the case that a certain amount of internationality is to be
expected of library names. It simply creates more trouble than it solves.

Of course, the balance is that an innocent western name might really upset
the asian population in a major asian country (China, India, Japan, ...),
and few people care about this. It is just that Americans tend to
self-immolate as soon as you mention their past.



On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 5:52 PM 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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