Nonsense translation or just bad english?

[SteveGerencser]

I prefer them fried over poached..

[mjtaylor]

I wasn't the one who originally raised the objection - that was two different members - and while it was to 'link monkeys' per se, the monkey part is the demeaning part of the phrase. If it were a term of respect, then of course, it wouldn't offend anyone.

An example from wikipedia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_monkey)

A Code monkey is a computer programmer or other person who writes computer code for a living. This term may be slightly derogatory, meaning that this developer can write some code but is unable to (or not supposed to) perform the more complex tasks of software architecture, analysis, and design.[1] It is usually applied to junior programmers.

The Racial Slur database lists a lot of monkeys: http://www.rsdb.org/.

I do understand that this felt extremely PC to some and I don't disagree; but I did and do champion the position because I feel that it is always more professional to err on the side of not offending anyone - especially when we don't even know who may be offended. As moderators, especially, we are the "face" of WPW and I feel that should be a professional one.

I am not fond of gibberish or drivel; I am inclined to delete as much of it as is deepsand or anyone else. I do not hesitate to ban new members that start on a spammy foot, but I don't deride anyone I don't know in public.

[williamc]

I wasn't the one who originally raised the objection - that was two different members - and while it was to 'link monkeys' per se, the monkey part is the demeaning part of the phrase. If it were a term of respect, then of course, it wouldn't offend anyone.

The reason it offended them was because they were likely linkbuilders trying to pass themselves off as SEO's. Those 2 animals are worlds apart, tho neither term is derogatory

[williamc]

Also, for the record, I call myself a code monkey all the time, have for 15+ years. Very simply put, it means that I can crank out more functional code in far less time than any 'junior coder' could ever hope to. Not at all derogatory in the least, so I am at least glad to see that wiki article has been disputed by enough people to display that it is, at best, unreliable. (except the jonathon coulter bit as I love his song)

[deepsand]

The origin of the term "keyboard monkey" is purely physical in nature, deriving from the infinite monkey theorem.

Given enough time, a hypothetical monkey typing at random would, as part of its output, almost surely produce all of Shakespeare's plays. In this image a chimpanzee is giving it a try.

The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.

In this context, "almost surely" is a mathematical term with a precise meaning, and the "monkey" is not an actual monkey, but a metaphor for an abstract device that produces a random sequence of letters and symbols ad infinitum. The probability of a monkey exactly typing a complete work such as Shakespeare's Hamlet is so tiny that the chance of it occurring during a period of time even a hundred thousand orders of magnitude longer than the age of the universe is extremely low, but not actually zero.

The behavior of the posters in question exactly mimics that of said monkey.

As for the The Racial Slur database, I do not allow that anyone other than myself shall determine the meaning of my words or the context within which they should be judged.

[DigiDog]

Ironically, this thread which began as a discussion of irrelevant posts (usually by forum spammers) has
itself been hijacked by a discussion on whether the term "monkey" is PC or not. As an admin of another
forum I personally have much stronger terms for forum spammers which are less insulting to primates.
However I believe that the expression "keyboard monkey" fits in this case and I don't think we should get
hung up on whether or not we may be offending the poor spammers.

As for the "Racial slur database"... sorry MJ, but that appears to be for people who want to take political
correctness to a whole new level. I did a quick search for any terms which relate to New Zealand (call me
parochial) and most of the terms seem to be "invented" rather than in general use. Both "kiwi" and "pakeha"
are in regular use and are perfectly acceptable here in Godzone. And what about "Murray" for Maori? That's
not a term I've ever heard before.

I generally appreciate the intelligent and relevant nature of the discussions on these forums. Let's not get
sidetracked by a discussion of the human rights of spammers... please.