EVIL terminology

[Juergen Koslowski <koslowj@iti.cs.tu-bs.de>]

Dear all,

In photo circles EVIL is currently used as an acronym for "Electronic
Viewfinder Interchangable Lens" cameras, a new form of cameras that do
away with the optical viefinder.  Probably this is as firmly
toungue-in-cheek as the use of the term "evil" in certain areas of
category theory.

And while I don't know if many photographers are offended by this term,
this obviously is the case with some of our colleagues in category
theory.  While I'm sure that everybody agrees that the concept as such
is important and worth studying, the ongoing dispute over the
terminology seems to be rather counterproductive.

Of course, one problem with mathematidcal terminology is that so many
terms are overloaded by now (natural, continuous...)  Any term borrowed
from the realm of everyday life will carry certain overtones (and will
irritate non-mathematicians).  On the other hand, acronyms can come
across a clumsy and an impediment to speach (ufl-functors).

Maybe it is not too late to find a clever new name for the concept that
does convey the negative connotations intended by the original adopters
of "evil" without being so offensive to others (we don't want to wait
30 or more years before changing terminology, cf. the 2005/06 discussion
concerning "cartesian" and "cocartesian").  Peter Freyd was always very
inventive coining new terminology, even though not much of it caught on.

Let me start by proposing "equi-unstable" and "precarious" as possible
replacements for "evil".

-- Juergen

-- 
Juergen Koslowski               If I don't see you no more on this world
ITI, TU Braunschweig               I'll meet you on the next one
koslowj@iti.cs.tu-bs.de               and don't be late!
http://www.iti.cs.tu-bs.de/~koslowj      Jimi Hendrix (Voodoo Child, SR)


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