Q: Not trying to stir the pot, but I just received a call from our surgery department, and they asked me what “politically correct” term they should use instead of “slave monitor.” Apparently a doctor made a comment about how we need to adjust our terminology. I didn’t know exactly what to say, other than “remote monitor.” I recommended they check with human resources, as that department would be better at what is/isn’t “politically correct.” Has anyone else had to come up with a new nomenclature for “slave monitor” or other similar terms that need to be adjusted?
A: Yes, I think it’s odd that people use that term. Just the other day someone said “the room where the slaves are.” I call it secondary video.
A: I use the term “remote video” or “overview display” and most people ask me, “What is that?” When I describe it to them, then they correct me, “Oh, you mean a slave display?” Yes, and then they get it. My apologizes. I mean no disrespect.
A: I would probably just go with remote monitor or secondary monitor.
A: Um … how about “dominate and secondary?”
A: There are no politics in electronics. The technically appropriate word is “slave monitor.” “Dummy terminal” is also technically appropriate, though it will likely bother some as well.
A: Try these substitutes: remote, repeater, secondary, clone or mirror. Just to name a few. You’ve got to love our politically correct world.
A: My first thought on this was along the lines of “you have got to be kidding me,” having been engaged in several long Facebook debates lately concerning political correctness. I won’t go any further into those conversations; it was just funny timing.
I decided to do a quick web search for politically correct terminology for the technical term “master/slave.” What I found were quite a few suggestions, but no real replacements that were as clear concerning the relationship between the items. I also found that Los Angeles apparently had a PC field day about 11 years ago even going as far as having all city employees cover up any equipment tags they had that carried the master or slave label. At that time, they were widely ridiculed over it.
I can remember the first time I saw the label a couple of decades ago; I was adding a second hard drive to my computer, and the labels for the jumpers on the original drive and the new drive contained the terms along with the mapping for the jumpers in each case. As soon as I saw that there was no doubt in my mind what it meant, nor was there any doubt as far as how I needed to set the jumpers. I don’t feel that “primary/secondary” or any of several other recommendations are near as clear. Perhaps “driving/driven?” Either way, I saw where someone had just a little fun with it and suggested a few that I thought were humorous. Just for a little levity, here they are “Overlord and Minion” or “Hero and Sidekick” or “Big Boss and Lackey” or “Captain and Sailor.”
A: Secondary monitor would work as well.
A: Assist monitor.
A: Maybe you should use “Thing 1” and “Thing 2.” I apologize to all of you who associate with “Thing.” I mean no disrespect.
A: It never ceases to amaze me how childish some members of our society have become. Is anyone truly offended by a monitor being referred to as a slave monitor? Do we really need to start checking with human resources anytime a technical word or phrase has the potential to be twisted, or over analyzed into something that possesses even the slightest possibility of offending the most overly sensitive of us? Please tell me we haven’t slid that far into PC purgatory.
A: We’ve run into issues with our COWs (Computers on Wheels), where we’re now required to call them WOWs (Workstations on Wheels), because it didn’t seem politically correct to use the term “COW.” It seems to be an ongoing adjustment, and I’m sure something else will come up once we figure this out. In the meanwhile, we’re probably going to stick with primary and secondary for the display nomenclature.
A: Mother/Child.
A: These are not people. They are machines. A slave is not a racist term. It is about one machine taking commands from another. There is no need for political correctness.
A: I agree with you. I understand about being “politically correct” but really a monitor? I have been calling attached (secondary monitors) in imaging “slave monitors” for my entire career. I call it “slave monitor” I guess now I have to call it “the exact duplicate secondary monitor.” First for me, but I have never been one to be politically correct, so I am leaving it as “slave monitor.”
A: Sounds like to me we are in fact sliding into purgatory. I looked up slave monitor in the dictionary for the meaning, which stated; a device that is controlled by or that duplicates the action of another similar device (the master device). The word slave like other English words, has more than one meaning. The brakes on a car are controlled by a master cylinder, which in turn operates the smaller slave hydraulic cylinders at the wheels. Hard drives for a PC can be configured as master or slave. What about daughter boards that plug into mother boards in multi-board electronic equipment? Let us not forget about piggybacked circuit boards and piggyback breakers. The list goes on and on.
A: It is truly out of control and it seems to be getting worse. What is this world coming to?
Q: Do you patch mattresses or do they have to be replaced?
A: We repair beds, cribs, mattresses, stretchers and the like. We do our best to repair air bladders internal to the mattresses when they have a pinhole, but when it comes to mattress covers, we consider them consumable and the hospital is required to purchase directly. If the internal foam or bladder replacement outweighs the cost of the mattress, the hospital will buy the mattress replacement.
A: We repair beds and stretchers. The mattress should be replaced unless it has a replaceable outer cover.
A: We repair beds and stretchers. We repair the broken bladders inside the beds. If the outer covering has tears or is letting fluids ingress, we replace the outer covering, or if we need to, the bladders. We do not “patch” mattresses. We have had a hard time lately with a certain model of bed that uses a whole bunch of those “pillows” running in the seat section.
A: We have to replace.
