#1

I would like to ask for your help. As you know, Custom Units are created with random names. These names are generated by randomly pairing an adjective with a noun. However, while often humorous or just silly, occasionally an offensive pairing will come up.

To solve this and keep the ER-301 experience pleasant, I would like to add a list of suppressed pairings. This means there would be 3 lists used to generate a name:

  • List of adjectives
  • List of nouns
  • List of suppressed pairings

However, may I have your help in suggesting candidates? I will also make it so each individual user can edit these 3 lists but I still would like a decent default set of words and suppressed pairings.

Here is what we have so far:

Adjectives

odd
every
cute
hungry
large
hot
scared
angry
nice
boring
alive
lucky
famous
used
new
entire
unfair
fair
mad
legal
illegal
old
young
severe
poor
sorry
recent
known
scared
strict
sexy
weak
wooden
former
tiny
rare
actual
tall
sudden
inner
early
vulgar
honest
pure
civil
rude
solid
sharp
crazy
sore
hot
cold
warm
frozen
dark
bright
red
blue
gray
green
pink
black
white
satin
surly
fickle
salty
sweet
bitter
savory
fast
slow
nerdy
sticky
smooth
rough
busted
guilty
lonely

Nouns

poet
killer
king
queen
prince
joker
tea
music
loss
thing
son
tale
owner
movie
fact
user
hotel
video
city
oven
sushi
drama
bread
depth
news
topic
night
disk
area
truth
chest
mall
map
law
year
ear
wife
hubby
month
gene
mom
dad
power
cell
phone
buyer
seller
salad
role
cheek
bonus
soup
honey
hat
apple
town
story
debt
wood
hall
ratio
shirt
mood
error
bath
lake
river
skill
dirt
lady
blood
unit
girl
boy
desk
mode
youth
bird
meat
tooth
actor
mud
guest
paper
pizza
road
idea
art
hair
scene
unit
pill
tree
rock
dream
vibe
vision
hope
chirp
bang
guru
party
smoke
vapor
flame
gas
glass
cup
plate
fork
spoon
eye
nose
hand
arm
leg
finger
toes
silk
velvet
cotton
burlap
thread
zipper
pasta
jock
nerd
planet
meteor
star
worm
bird
tiger
snail
flower
cat
dog
mouse
rat
snake
fish
tuna
horse
cow
pig
duck
frog
corn
pickle

Suppressed Pairings

white power
Vulgar Wife
Vulgar Girl
Vulgar Dad
Vulgar Boy
Vulgar Youth
Sexy Mom
Sexy Girl
Sexy Boy
Young Mom
Guilty Wife
Guilty Mom
Pink Meat
Hot Girl
Hot Boy
Used Girl
Used Boy
Used Wife
Used Man
Black Girl
Black Boy
Dark Boy
4 Likes
#2

Vulgar Wife
Vulgar Girl
Vulgar Dad
Vulgar Boy
Vulgar Youth
Sexy Mom
Sexy Girl
Sexy Boy
Young Mom
Guilty Wife
Guilty Mom
Pink Meat
Hot Girl
Hot Boy
Used Girl
Used Boy
Used Wife
Used Man
Black Girl
Black Boy
Dark Boy

1 Like
#3

First thing that popped into my head: colours. Red, green, blue, etc.

Second thing : north, east, south, west.

Third thing : Mars, Jupiter, Venus, etc.

#4

I think the clueā€™s in the name.

ā€œRandom Custom Unit Namingā€. Users being aware of that might be able to apprehend the fact that a pairing that is offensive to them has been randomly generated, cancel said unit and generate another. Attempts to universalise pairings of words which cause (or purportedly should or should not cause) offence creates far more problems than it solves.

1 Like
#5

Very good points and I very much agree with where you are coming from.

However, I see this as not a problem between the user and the ER-301 but more about preventing misunderstandings in people who happen to be casually viewing you working on the ER-301. They will most likely not understand that the names are randomly generated and you might not have the time or opportunity to explain it.

#6

Green East Venus?

If I understand correctly you are suggesting limiting the set of adjectives and nouns so that it is obvious that no embarrassing combinations arise?

#7

Of course, if people feel this kind of ā€œcleansingā€ is less attractive then just replacing the whole random name mechanism with something more controlled (AAA, AAB, ā€¦, ZZZ) then Iā€™m open to that also. I just felt this was the easiest and most practical way forward because honestly I didnā€™t think there were really that many embarrassing combinations, although @Unity2k showed me differently. :laughing:

#8

Iā€™m more in the camp of random nouns and adjectives and I could have easily lived with whatever awkwardness might occasionally popup, but itā€™s like the name Muffwiggler in that certain sensitivities at this time warrant the kind of awareness you put forward.

Please stick with current method and minus the combos identified so far I donā€™t see a problem.

2 Likes
#9

Likewise, I see where youā€™re coming from and shall bow out of further meta-commentary :wink:

1 Like
#10

No, just adding to the list of nouns. Hereā€™s more:

Cities : Tokyo, London, Berlin, etc.

Scientists : Einstein, Hawking, Feynman, etc.

#11

a fantasy world for easily offended people who have no time to ask, think or research?
then please replace this funny random generator with blank space or something.

soon we will ban offensive sounds, hereā€™s my list:

  • no african polyrhythms
  • no wagner!
  • no more detuned sounds, everything in tune please!
  • funk, blues, soul are banned, too emotional, sexy, obscene etc
  • dark-black-deathmetal need to find non-offensive genre names
4 Likes
#12

Is human evolution bifurcating into the easily offended and the canā€™t be offended?

Let a thousand ER-301 songs bloom.

#13

The easily offended are often marginalized populations who are tired of being outside the dominant culture and find words and phrases that isolate or diminish them to be offensive. Just 50 years ago words such as [list of ugly racist terms - self edited as I hope I made my point] were relatively common and only the easily offended would have taken umbrage. Sensibilities change as culture evolves and while you could just as well call a custom unit Scheisse Schwanz for all I careā€¦the world isnā€™t made up of old white men such as myself. I for one like polite society.

2 Likes
#14

cwejman changed to cwejwoman
makenoise to makemusic
and metasonix is banned altogetherā€¦

itā€™s a big difference to have abusive terms, cusses etc and what @odevices described as suppressed pairings.
the only term i see as offensive is white power, and only because it is clearly defined as a racist group.

1 Like
#15

50 years ago is pretty much ancient history, or no history at all, to the easily offended among us in this forum, wouldnā€™t you think?

As for society at large, in the climes where being offended has any currency, the grossly offensive terms you cite are laughably dated. Much finer distinctions drive the offense-taken sensibility. Thatā€™s the rub.

#16

reductio ad absurdum. nothing about making music demands a truly random unit naming convention; your free speech is not being suppressed. the option to manually name your unit ā€œused boyā€ is not being removed.

2 Likes
#17

Bring on the art that addresses the offensiveness of ā€œVulgar Dadā€.

#18

Better yet, bring on the art that offends hidebound notions of art. And that is really all that matters to me.

#19

@odevices I think you are on the right track and I appreciate your effort. I like the funny/random unit names but, as you say, an unfortunate combination could be an unneeded headache and distraction.

1 Like
#20

@odevices personally i really appreciate this kind of attention to the politic nature of language BUT
random is random! no censorship please, let the machine express it\her\him\self as it\she\he wants :wink:

2 Likes