Before I get into this I just want to say up front that I am not judging or fun-policing anyone on this front… but it deserves some visibility as we speculate, hope for future classes, and even go into our next raid. I’m not asking anyone to change as players, but… well…
I just learned something today that dropped my jaw and pre-emptively made me cringe on the front of two different fandoms.
I used to LARP, and at one of the points of the rules being rewritten, our “g*psy” race (basically the exact stereotype you are likely picturing) was renamed to “wanderer,” for obvious “LARPers try to champion inclusion at least on a corporate level” reasons.
Well, I was just educated that there is a term categorized in the same space with the same sense of malice by the affected peoples:
Tinker.
Both my inner Wheel of Time fan and WoW loyalist/speculation centers of my brain feel a strong need to construct elaborate disclaimers to copy paste into future discussions.
Yikes.
Once again, I have no intention of judging or coming down on future WoW discussions, nor am I calling for anyone else to, but… yeah I’m contemplating circling the wagons on social media as we go into the battle of Dazar’Alor… and hope for future classes.
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yup appears to be the case
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tinkers
thanks to urban dictionary we won’t have any ‘safe’ words anymore.
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I always thought tinkerer sounded better anyway
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There is a reason people don’t like them. The Irish Traveller’s are going around my neighborhood right now. A woman just got scammed yesterday by them on a driveway resurface job.
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I’m still waiting on the deed for the bridge I bought.
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Pretty sure it’s because of centuries of colonialism, racist ignorance and cultural genocide.
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When race is all one sees, then racism is everywhere. Pay attention, and you’ll see the truth about today’s “racists”.
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Urban dictionary IS NOT a reliable source.
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For the record, I did not learn this from urban dictionary.
Just because there’s good reason for some words to be considered very hurtful and best used almost never, doesn’t mean that all words considered similarly so have very good reasons for said treatment.
Beyond that, the meaning of words change through their , seeming, misuse.
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We gotta just throw the entire English language into the garbage.
Make Latin the language of the world! Incredibilis!
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this is just another bandwagon troll thread.
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Remember this the next time Gelbin says “I just loooove to tinker!”
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This.
Seriously, look up the etymology of the word gay sometime. That word jumped around a TON before it became slang (and at times derogatory slang) for homosexuality.
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Oh, I get you. Not saying anybody has bad intentions. Not calling anybody racist. Just saying that the people who take offense often have a very reasonable and historic reason to take said offence. This is because history is bloody. We have been very evil to each other, and those evils are still felt today. Just please have some compassion for each other.
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This is not how language works.
Seriously, when the hell did context become irrelevant? Words themselves have no intrinsic meaning. If I say “I really hope tinker is the next playable class” here on the WoW forum, I’m obviously not referring to an Irishman.
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No its not, the Only time I use it is for the internet slang that changes from time to time and usually is found on there, but even then its fairly dodgy. Cross Reference everything!
Since the internet started internetting?
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If they call it just “Tinker” and not “Tinkerer” or something actually… interesting, I’d be disappointed.
Calling it “Tinker” makes it sound like some toddler playing around with their tinker toys. But considering how gnomes are just hyperactive children who have been enabled by rock people to mess with stuff, I suppose either will still be accurate.