Is "black hole" a racially insensitive term?

There is a secondary problem aside from the color. "Hole" is itself a charged term. It's Patriarchal thinking, "defining" (itself an act of phallagocentric aggression) the phenomenon in terms of absence, thereby postulating an essential and understood normative value for presence. Typical male chauvinism, seeing the world in terms of penii and vaginosities. All womyn who embrace multiple paths to multiple truths, of which science is just one (and one corrupted by European colonialism at that) will recognize that the term "hole" for the astronomic phenomenon is nothing less than antifeminist propaganda on a galactic scale. Almost as bad as depicting the Great Attractor as a blonde nude woman with big funbags, as Stephen Hawking drew in his last book. And don't get me started on what's wrong with "Virgo Supercluster". Men!
 
TragicMonkey said:
There is a secondary problem aside from the color. "Hole" is itself a charged term. It's Patriarchal thinking, "defining" (itself an act of phallagocentric aggression) the phenomenon in terms of absence, thereby postulating an essential and understood normative value for presence. Typical male chauvinism, seeing the world in terms of penii and vaginosities. All womyn who embrace multiple paths to multiple truths, of which science is just one (and one corrupted by European colonialism at that) will recognize that the term "hole" for the astronomic phenomenon is nothing less than antifeminist propaganda on a galactic scale. Almost as bad as depicting the Great Attractor as a blonde nude woman with big funbags, as Stephen Hawking drew in his last book. And don't get me started on what's wrong with "Virgo Supercluster". Men!
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That's all apart from the fact that "black hole", literally translated into Russian, is obscene slang (or at least was when black hole was first invented). The Russian astronomers quickly adopted "black star".
 
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But is a black hole really a hole? I imagine them as more like a dense concentration, a pile that gets no taller as it gets bigger. Why did anyone think that they were holes?

And regarding "manhole", just a couple days ago I thought of a better term. "Manhole" doesn't tell you anything. It could be the mouth of a cave, or the pipe at the bottom of a urinal. I vote for "road hatch". It's more descriptive.

Or maybe I've been watching too much Lost.
 
G-K-4 said:
And regarding "manhole", just a couple days ago I thought of a better term. "Manhole" doesn't tell you anything. It could be the mouth of a cave, or the pipe at the bottom of a urinal. I vote for "road hatch". It's more descriptive.
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This manhandling of the English language needs to stop.
 
Well, the city governments love their union workers, and none are held to higher esteem than those who gain glory in the sewers.

I propose we rename them yet again as "glory holes", as in "Let's go to town, dude, and stick our tools into the glory hole and get our business done."
 
Modified said:
Perhaps "manhole" is sexist and should be changed to "personhole".
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I remember my "Boys' Health Education" teacher telling us that HIS teacher found the term "manhole cover" highly offensive because it reminded him of a sanitary napkin. Sheesh.... is there a term for pareidolia of the spoken word?
 
TobiasTheCommie said:
HEY, did you just compare me to a cow?
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Are you saying that's a bad thing, you species-ist?

ddt said:
Especially red cows. They're commies.
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As a redhead, I'm offended by that. :mad: Expect to hear from the NAAR (National Association for the Advancement of Redheads) shortly, spearheaded by the right Rev Johnny Walker Red. We'll bla.......errr African-American list you in a heartbeat.


lmfao @ the lunacy that is this country.
 
Wait...so darker skinned persons have so much gravity, not even light can escape them...what? What kind of racial slur would that be?

I guess it means black people have to lighten up?



...omg, I'm crawling away now. Quickly.
 
G-K-4 said:
But is a black hole really a hole? I imagine them as more like a dense concentration, a pile that gets no taller as it gets bigger. Why did anyone think that they were holes?

And regarding "manhole", just a couple days ago I thought of a better term. "Manhole" doesn't tell you anything. It could be the mouth of a cave, or the pipe at the bottom of a urinal. I vote for "road hatch". It's more descriptive.

Or maybe I've been watching too much Lost.
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A black hole is called a black hole because IF (and it is very likely) it looks like it is thought to, it will be a dark space in space - light can't escape (so no glow), light is sucked in/pulled in by the gravity, mass that gets to it's event horizon does the same - and converts essentially to energy (and can't escape. Much more detail on many locations on the net.

Lost is very like a black hole (sucks the energy out of stuff, sucks, is dark, we have no idea if it is real or not, lot's of incomplete information and guesswork associated with it). Only real difference is black holes are interesting!!
 
As to the topic of racial sensisitivity, might I suggest "all-inclusive tolerance and equality hole."

After all, we're all equals inside the black hole all-inclusive tolerance and equality hole.
 
Paraphrasing:

Homer: I'll look in the garage...
Moe: Oh, listen to Mr. Fancy Pants and his big, fancy words..."Garage"!
Homer: What do you call it?
Moe: The "car hole"!
 
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