Jesus christ people in the comments here are pathetic. This clearly has nothing to do with racial slurs or otaku culture. It's a play on the totally normal english word "tycoon" which just means "very rich businessman" and "mogul" which is a synonym for "magnate". You can look these up, every half-decent dictionary has these words. They probably changed it because "coon" is a slur for black people and they didn't want to cause any misunderstandings. If any of this offends you, please, please just step outside, touch some grass, take a deep breath, relax.
this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2025
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You begin with "this clearly has nothing to do with racial slurs" and have near the end "they probably changed it because coon is a slur for black people".
This is self contradictory, both statements can't be true at the same time.
I am not offended by anything here, I couldn't care less about what they use as fun wordplay in there.
Had a slow day and lots of free time at a train ride and just want to show that everything written can be misinterpreted and misunderstood. There is a bad meaning or derogatory slang for nearly every word out there.
derogatory slang
What did you call me!?
🤣😉
It absolutely can be true, though slightly misworded.
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the initial usage had nothing to do with the derogatory term.
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upon realizing the relation to the derogatory term they adapted.
Yes, if you change the complete context and make major changes to the sentences, then both can be true. I am sorry that I made that mistake, I beg for forgiveness
It's not changing the complete sentence, it's recognizing context clues and patterns of language.
"This clearly has nothing to do with racial slurs or otaku culture" = the original intention wasn't about a racial slur and the change isn't about mocking Otaku culture. (This is supported when they go on to explain what the actual original intention would be)
"They probably changed it because “coon” is a slur for black people and they didn’t want to cause any misunderstandings" = upon realizing the relation to a slur they didn't intend, they changed it.
No need for forgiveness, or for passive aggressive condescension.
Okay, so this definitely feels like bad practice to not change the version number or URL, even in something trivial like example texts here. But what real-world significance does this have?
It almost seems equivalent to just changing a variable name based on how it's being used, which -- to be clear -- should come with a version bump, but I can't imagine this having any meaningful impact anywhere.
But what real-world significance does this have?
None - I don't know of anyone that parses release names. Versions, yes, absolutely, but silly version release names?
I came into the comments to see what other reason there was, but it seems it's a non-story.
FSF moved out of its office in August 2024. Note that they removed the address in the newer revision. I guess they took the opportunity to change the example copyright disclaimer to something that didn't include a racial slur.
It's not a functional change so I don't think it warrants a new version number or URL.
Hugh Jassole
What's wrong with ty coon
That's a massive reach.
A massive reach of it being literally the same word? Like obviously they didn't mean it in a racist way but clearly they decided that having a racial slur in the docs there was not something they felt good about.
There may be people who consider it a slur but there are also three species of butterflies, two species of mammals, and a few dozen Wikipedia-worthy people with that name. I mean, I’m all against insulting people, but come on.
This came up during the GPLv3 drafting period. Bradley Kuhn (whose surname is a homonym of this word) relayed personal experience. One commenter said they experienced being called this slur. It's unfortunately still a problem.
So does apple, coconut, cracker, gin, barbarian, brownie, skinny, spade, spook, teabag and a whole host of different words.
It should never be about the word itself, but how it's being used. Someone being called a genius doesn't usually mean they are being applauded for their intellect either, for example.
I have realised, upon reflection, what I take issue with with your argument.
It places the onus on the intention, as opposed to the result.
If the result of me doing something particularly mundane, that I could do another way with zero extra effort, is that some people are offended or othered or hurt, then it seems blatantly obvious to me that the action to take is to change what I'm doing. Theres nuance in the wider discussion but you can't judge intentions, since nobody can know what someone else's intentions are. You can judge actions and outcomes.
The action in this case is mundane, and I don't place any blame or hate toward the people who took the action (made the Tycoon joke). The outcome is potentially negative, and I would argue demonstrably negative since people felt compelled to comment about it. It still doesn't mean that the folks who wrote the joke are massive racists or fascists or whatever, but the outcome related to their action is negative. Hence they chose to change the action to change the outcome.
Seems pretty cut and dry that this was a wholly positive thing, no?
Sure, but unless you're talking about a Maine coon then its not really an apples to apples comparison is it? All the words you've mentioned have very commonplace uses but this does not, and it is not being used in a context that is "usual" for it.
This discussion is meaningless anyway because nobody was like, calling them out for it, or at least I haven't seen evidence for that being the case. They decided they felt uncomfortable and changed it.
Doesn't seem like anyone was calling them out in that. They're pointing out that it might be a good idea to change it, but I digress, I'll stand corrected here.
I grew up calling racoons "coons" in the region of the US I live in and it's still common to call them that nowadays. Words can have contextual meanings. If I hear the word "removed" and it turns out some guy is working on his car, I'm not going to be offended, and I shouldn't be, because it's not being used as a slur.
All said and done, I don't particularly think it's a big deal to change it, but I do believe it's a highly performative gesture.
So like, its not necessarily about offense. Some folks who have suffered abuse and aggression because of their minority status have visceral, trauma responses to certain things. When I hear the t-slur used, for example, it invokes a deep anxiety and panic. That doesn't mean that I think that anyone who says it is a transphobe (like the car guy in your example might be talking about his transmission or some silly thing like that) and I'm not going to rage and scream at him. But I'm not weird or wrong for asking him not to say it because it triggers me. This isn't a discussion about how we should cancel people for using words, its a discussion about how we can accommodate our fellow people.
The OP shows some folks making a change that is so minor we shouldn't even be talking about it, so that they can be just a touch more likely not to affect someone negatively. Even if its performative, who cares, they did it and it affects nobody negatively.
More concerning, I think, is the people jumping in this thread acting like this is woke cancel culture gone wild and we can't use normal words anymore.
Bah, lemmy, please just let me devolve into a reactionary right winger! Stop making me learn things and have empathy and compassion for people!
You're right. Fuck. It's just tiring being wrong. I grew up in a way that getting mad about something like this would just be replied with "tough shit". I guess old habits die hard. If changing it really makes that much of a difference for people, then yeah, great job gnu people.
It really is hard to rewire when you've been brought up in a world that didn't care - and like, honestly good on you for even reflecting in this way. Thanks for learning things and having empathy and compassion ;P
I just wanna be edgy and post images of skeletons riding motorcycles T-T
I guess Ty changed their name
Wouldn't that be spelled "Earl", then?
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