I'd much rather have a joke that doesn't age well than a completely wit-less corporate committee specification.
0xCAFEBABE isn't laugh-out-loud funny (not sure it ever was), but I find it a comforting reminder that Java was actually written by humans. The "Duke" mascot, too. It's not at all hard to imagine an underemployed middle manager learning about it and demanding it being changed, in fear that the Important and Serious people who would write Important and Serious software in Java would think it's not an Important and Serious language.
0xCAFEBABE is (I can't believe I'm going to do this) vaguely sexist though, so the cringe for me, at least, is thinking about my daughter reading that and thinking her father came up with it, and thus believing "BABE" is the kind of phrase dad would use to describe women in general.
I agree that cafe babe is sexist (like 'booth babe'). The word babe itself is completely endearing though - my SO and I call one another that all the time.
Quite a few black people use the term „nigger” between themselves, and I know at least one couple that adopted „asshole” as an affectionate term. Not to mention completely ridiculous yet popular terms like „pumpkin”.
Just because some people adopted the word in some narrow context doesn’t change its meaning outside of it. There’s many behaviors that are common and acceptable towards your significant other and yet completely demeaning when applied to a barista (that doesn’t happen to be your significant other). So, whatever people call each other while watching Star Wars reruns is utterly irrelevant here.
The thing with calling someone "babe" is that it's too... forward? It's something that you call people you already know, so saying "babe" to a stranger is presumptuous. Anything in that category would have the same effect I think: honey, sweetheart.
It's also possible to use it in a belittling way, but I can't think of any synonym for "woman" which couldn't, if you use the right tone of voice. That's just general sexism, and the word "babe" wouldn't be worse than "lady" with the same delivery.
If you're talking about something that's not in those two categories, could you like me to it so I can see what you're talking about?
You could say "good morning" in a demeaning way, if you used a certain tone. It depends on specific culture, but usually there's certain very obvious (I have aspergers, so if I can see them, everyone can) protocols of interaction with people you don't know well. And in most situations you'd use the word "babe" at someone you don't know very well you probably shouldn't speak at all. The one exception that comes to my mind is "you're an actor and that's your line". So, yes, it's quite a bit worse than "miss". "Lady" only in third person, like "that lady just drove an 18 wheeler over my foot!"
But yes, honey and sweetheart would work just as badly. And yes, there's quite a few words that are worse. But "hey, they could do worse!" is no real argument. Sure they could.
> Babe is an endearing term. It's sexist only in the sense that it identifies the gender of the subject of endearment.
When actually used as a term of endearment, it doesn't; its pretty common in direct address as a term of endearment regardless of gender; in that use its not sexist at all.
When used as a noun in the third-person, rather than a name-substitute in direct address, though, its sexist, but its not a term of endearment, there, either.
CAFEBABE can be equally easily interpreted in either sense, so how it is perceived will largely reflect what the viewer is inclined toward seeing.
Babe isn't just an endearing term, though. If used by a loved one to another loved one, as you're suggesting, it certainly is. I would never argue that such usage is sexist.
I would, however, argue that a "cafe babe" isn't endearing, or referring to young humans.
As Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary defines it:
1. a baby or small child.
2. an inexperienced or naive person.
3. Slang.
a. Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive. a girl or woman.
b. (sometimes cap.) an affectionate or familiar term of address.
I'm looking at definition 3a. The context tells me it's probably not 1 or 2, and 3b doesn't make much sense as there is no prior established relationship or context for which a familiar or affectionate tone to take (it's just two words, after all).
Anyway you're right, it's probably an overreaction, I just don't think we should pretend like we suddenly don't know what the word "babe" means at the first sign of trouble.
Actually CAFE is the sexist part, given how it's the choice of drink for macho herd-rearing cowboys who famously see women as little more than trophies. And really, 0 is obviously a vagina, while x is a symbol for a butthole. 0xCAFE then, is two cowboys gangraping a barmaid. BABE is really the least sexist part of that signature.
GTFO and ENHANCE_YOUR_CALM are symptoms of an unprofessional design process. It's not bad that a core standard be plain and functional, in fact it's a sign that the people designing it did so with the seriousness it deserves.
If the http wg actually listened to PHK there would be some hope for it not to end up with the complicated garbage that it is now, but they don't.
> GTFO and ENHANCE_YOUR_CALM are symptoms of an unprofessional design process.
I'd chose "having sense of humour" over "professional" every day.
> it's a sign that the people designing it did so with the seriousness it deserves.
Or it's a sign that the people designing it are too serious, focusing on political correctness and not on doing good engineering. Creativity, care about the product and sense of humour often go together.
0xCAFEBABE isn't laugh-out-loud funny (not sure it ever was), but I find it a comforting reminder that Java was actually written by humans. The "Duke" mascot, too. It's not at all hard to imagine an underemployed middle manager learning about it and demanding it being changed, in fear that the Important and Serious people who would write Important and Serious software in Java would think it's not an Important and Serious language.