海角大神

If you look through real estate listings these days, you鈥檒l notice that they refer to the home鈥檚 largest bedroom in a variety of ways. It might be the 鈥減rimary bedroom,鈥� 鈥渂edroom #1,鈥� or perhaps the 鈥渙wners鈥� retreat.鈥� These terms replace the once default 鈥渕aster bedroom,鈥� which was renounced by a number of U.S. real estate associations last year. 聽

Master is slowly being dropped in university and tech contexts as well. In 2015, Harvard 鈥渉ousemasters鈥� 鈥� faculty who live in dorms and advise students 鈥� voted unanimously to change their title, in response to student complaints and their own discomfort about the term鈥檚 associations with slavery. They are now 鈥渇aculty deans.鈥� Other universities abandoned the title around the same time; at Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 鈥渉eads of house鈥� are now in charge of the student dorms.聽

For decades, computer programmers have used master and slave 鈥渁s a reference to situations where one process or entity controls another,鈥� according to Wired magazine. A 鈥渕aster clock鈥� would set the time for its 鈥渟lave clocks,鈥� for example. An increasing number of companies are abandoning this fraught analogy, replacing it with 鈥渕ain/replica鈥� or 鈥渓eader/follower.鈥澛�

Master comes from the Latin adverb magis (鈥渕ore鈥�). It first appeared in聽English over a thousand years ago, referring to people who had authority over others, whether as rulers, employers, teachers, or fathers. The word has carried many positive connotations: It鈥檚 an achievement to obtain a master鈥檚 degree, and rewarding to master a new skill; we admire old master paintings or the way a maestro (Italian for 鈥渕aster鈥�) conducts an orchestra. But for many Americans, the word conjures up the system of plantation slavery, where 鈥渕asters鈥� had authority over the people they had enslaved.聽 聽

Given the word鈥檚 strong negative associations in the United States, it makes sense that many universities and companies would eschew it. These renunciations have attracted criticism, however, as 鈥減olitical correctness鈥� or 鈥渨okeness鈥� run amok. Some argue that the history of master is so long and multifarious that its use during the comparatively short period of slavery in the U.S. shouldn鈥檛 mean that it鈥檚 forever tarnished. Others see its rejection in programming and real estate as a slippery slope that ends with all terms that might be considered remotely offensive to someone, somewhere, being banned. Still others see it as a band-aid that does nothing to resolve systemic racism.聽

Looking at the 1,000-year history of the language in which master is embedded, one thing is clear: English changes.聽