[R] Inappropriate color name

Spencer Graves
Tue, 17 Nov 2020 21:57:55 -0000

Might it be appropriate to raise that question on the Talk page
associated with the Wikipedia article on "Indian red (color)":


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_red_(color)


	  Many Wikimedian are generally sympathetic to discussions of
political correctness and similar topics.  If the name of that article
were changed, then it should be a lot easier to pursue a similar name
change elsewhere.


	  Spencer Graves


On 2020-11-17 15:25, Mitchell Maltenfort wrote:
> What about just amputating the final "n?"
>
> "Indian" might mean one of two things, but "India" is
pretty distinct.
>
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 17, 2020 at 4:10 PM T. A. Milne via R-help <r-help at
r-project.org>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> Apologies to the list for continuing a thread which is clearly
off-topic.
>> However, contacting the maintainer of an R package to complain about
this
>> specific color name seems ill-considered.
>>
>> 1)  The name "indian red" is a part of widely-used color
schemes
>> everywhere, not just in R.  It's the color defined as:
>>
>> "The color indianred / Indian red with hexadecimal color code
#cd5c5c is a
>> shade of red. In the RGB color model #cd5c5c is comprised of 80.39%
red,
>> 36.08% green and 36.08% blue. In the HSL color space #cd5c5c has a hue
of
>> 0? (degrees), 53% saturation and 58% lightness. This color has an
>> approximate wavelength of 611.37 nm."
>>
>> https://encycolorpedia.com/cd5c5c
>>
>>
>> 2)  The "indian" in the color name refers to ferric oxide,
historically
>> sourced from India.  Per Wikipedia:
>>
>> "The name Indian red derives from the red laterite soil found in
India,
>> which is composed of naturally occurring iron oxides.[citation needed]
The
>> first recorded use of Indian red as a color term in English was in
1672.[3"
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_red_(color)
>>
>>
>> Given the name refers to the locus of the ferric oxide source, It
isn't
>> obvious that any particular group should be offended by the name.
>>
>>
>> --  T. Arthur Milne
>>
>>
>>> On Nov 16, 2020, at 5:46 PM, Rolf Turner <r.turner at
auckland.ac.nz>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Tue, 17 Nov 2020 07:54:01 +1100
>>> Jim Lemon <drjimlemon at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi Elaine,
>>>> There seems to be a popular contest to discover offence
everywhere. I
>>>> don't think that it does anything against racism, sexism or
>>>> antidisestablishmentarianism. Words are plucked from our vast
lexicon
>>>> to comfort or insult our fellows depending upon the intent of
the
>>>> user. It is the intent that matters, not the poor word. Chasing
the
>>>> words wastes your time, blames those who use the words
harmlessly,
>>>> and gives the real offender time to find another epithet.
>>>>
>>> Jim:  This is superbly expressed.  I wish that I could have said
>>> that! Your posting should go down in the annals of brilliant
rhetoric,
>>> alongside Dr. Johnson's "Letter to Lord
Chesterfield".
>>>
>>> cheers,
>>>
>>> Rolf
>>>
>> You know, I wouldn?t have continued this thread (which has now wandered
>> off topic from the original somewhat-more-technical question), but I
feel
>> now like it?s necessary to do so (and only fair, if anyone is
considering
>> moderating me after letting these posts by):
>>
>> That is a view commonly held by white people, and even more
overwhelmingly
>> by white men. Our field is already not as diverse as it should be for a
>> variety of reasons, and this ?pretending no one else on earth exists?
kind
>> of stuff is at least some part of the reason. The question at issue
here
>> aside, white men complaining about people finding racism or sexism
>> everywhere they look doesn?t pass the sniff test. Most or all of these
>> things that people are reporting as offensive are being reported by
people
>> you?re clearly not listening to.
>>
>> Further, impact is what matters. If I step on your foot, I apologize,
>> regardless of whether or not it was intentional, because it?s the right
>> thing to do. If someone tells you ?that thing you?re saying is
offensive or
>> is hurting me? and you say ?I didn?t mean it,? and then keep right on
doing
>> it, what does it say to the person on the receiving end of it? All
anyone
>> that is being ?blamed,? as you put it, is being asked to do is to try
to do
>> better next time.
>>
>> --
>> #BlackLivesMatter
>> ____
>> || \\UTGERS,
|---------------------------*O*---------------------------
>> ||_// the State  |         Ryan Novosielski - novosirj at rutgers.edu
>> || \\ University | Sr. Technologist - 973/972.0922 (2x0922) ~*~ RBHS
Campus
>> ||  \\    of NJ  | Office of Advanced Research Computing - MSB C630,
Newark
>>       `'
>>
>> ______________________________________________
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>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
>
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>