No. I'm making a pedantic (clearly) suggestion about a small visual irritant for the very good reason that because of the (hopefully) temporarily toxic environment in our field, some other human beings I care about might feel a bit put out by the choice of word A over word B. Words or humans? A different word could have been chosen at zero cost and made someone else feel better or less bad; so I'll suggest that door thank you--no it doesn't matter if those put out are being rational, expressing logic compilable by GCC, or otherwise fit with anyone else's ideas about what is proper and right, because it cost nothing to do.
I dislike thinking about stuff like this. It's a waste of time and a distraction from things that truly matter, e.g., Pluto! But, a bunch of jerks already set the stage and the tune and it behooves those of us wanting to profit on that stage to be aware.
If you have data or citations to back up the "most common and easiest to understand" please share, I'm always interested in seeing data. Here's what I have to offer, for what it's worth:
> I'm making a pedantic (clearly) suggestion about a small visual irritant for the very good reason that because of the (hopefully) temporarily toxic environment in our field, some other human beings I care about might feel a bit put out by the choice of word A over word B.
The problem is that an ugly little debate exists outside of this thread. You don't actually get to drag in small pieces of pedantry like that in isolation.
So, on the topic of this debate:
There are serious real problems in the world and in the software industry with people who are jerks, and (in particular, topically) unwelcoming and offensive to women. This is a very bad thing. And there are people who wish to fix this by changing the language we use. That's a legitimate position to propose and advance.
It's also a legitimate position to object to. But there are those come into the discussion wielding the hammer of Moral Authority, and often they suggest that if you fail to join the crusade to change a word like "man-hours" then you're an ignorant bigot riding high on all your privilege (you can already find some posts on this thread suggesting ideas from this group). Really, it isn't strictly about treating women decently, it's about demanding your subscription to and endorsement of a particular worldview and series of political prescriptions... it's about securing power and finding ways to stifle your opponents and detractors.
I dislike thinking about stuff like this. It's a waste of time and a distraction from things that truly matter, e.g., Pluto! But, a bunch of jerks already set the stage and the tune and it behooves those of us wanting to profit on that stage to be aware.
If you have data or citations to back up the "most common and easiest to understand" please share, I'm always interested in seeing data. Here's what I have to offer, for what it's worth:
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=man-hour&year_...