This is interesting on multiple levels. There was the Python Software Foundation's decision to be reactive rather than proactive. Then why give it such a name? Esp. since the author was a woman. Who didnt speak English, and used a name suggested by a friend(?). There we arrive at what I consider to be reprehensible behavior: to expose someone to ridicule in the guise of giving help.
I did know the sexual and voyeurism connotations of the word “upskirt” and I was very hesitant to actually use it. For the record, my limited grasp of slang English means that I genuinely had no idea where it lied on the offensiveness scale, and whether it could be covered up as something more harmless (and have it be more of an innuendo than of a basic offensive word).
I'm not sure what to make of that, but I do think that naming software with any sort of sexual innuendo regardless of how offensive it is is a very poor choice. More than anything else, I feel embarrassed to be in tech when this sort of thing happens.
Not just slang (I mean not just intentional use of slang). I used to talk to a man online who was very interested in politics. Because I am American and he was not (and I think English was like his fourth language), he routinely referred to President Bush as "your Bush". I'm female, so this made me very uncomfortable and I finally asked him "Do you know what that means in English slang?" He wasn't attempting to use slang, but boy did it sound bad to me.
There are all kinds of landmines when you try to speak another language. I have lots of humorous/embarrassing stories from growing up in a bilingual family.
