[ruby-talk:14209] Re: Ruby mascot proposal

On Wed, 25 Apr 2001, W. Kent Starr wrote:

> On Tuesday 24 April 2001 23:02, Yukihiro Matsumoto wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > In message "[ruby-talk:14148] Re: Ruby mascot proposal"
> >
> >     on 01/04/24, Stephen White <[e-mail]> writes:
> > |> I think we need a pair of *human* mascots: a wizard and a sorceress
> > |
> > |I like the human idea... "Ruby: Programmers' best friend" to show it's
> > |really human, how about showing typical programmers?
> >
> > No, Ruby is programmers' friend, not a programmer, although she
> > sometimes creates programs. ;-)
> >
> > I really like the female mascot on the page, but it might not be
> > suitable for *official* mascot of the language.
> >
> > 							matz.
>
>
> Well, it may not be 'politically correct' in the USA, but IMO who cares!?

I do.  I wouldn't go out of my way to apply the phrase "politically correct" to
myself, but I find that the idea of using a human female figure as a "mascot"
bothers me considerably.

Technically a mascot doesn't have to be an animal, but to me it certainly has
that implication.  Human mascots tend to be people who have something wrong with
them, at least as they relate to the job in hand -- for instance, someone's
little brother being the "mascot" of a high school football team (understood
humorously, because he's not old enough to play).

As for the political correctness or whatever you want to call it, remember that
in this case we're talking about choosing a symbol for the purpose of having
people infer something about Ruby from it.  Therefore, I think it's worth being
very sensitive to this question -- even if one might take a certain amount of
imagery one doesn't like in one's stride in other contexts.

> Personally, I think a sorceress with a magic ruby ensconced staff is a
> dynamite idea (ty Conrad).
>
> A sorta 'sexy' little sorceress is alluring, attracting, and she casts 'her'
> magic spell and you're caught forever. She promise 'power', 'paradise',
> 'reawakening', 'enlightenment' and 'new experiences' which 'expand' and
> 'enhance'.
>
> I'm not sure about Japanese mythology, but I would be willing to bet there
> are close similarities to the 'powerful and mysterious' females that thread
> throughout the mythology of the west.
>
> We males contribute in passing to the continuance of life; it is the females,
> however, who are the foundation of it.
>
> The 'Mysteries of the West' are firmly formed in the female mold (ditto much
> of the forms of African mythology) and, I strongly suspect, that of the East
> (please enlighten me).
>
> As a consequence, a female sorcerer is a very appealing concept for
> representing Ruby, for, is the language itself not alluring, attracting and
> somewhat 'magic'?

Well, so is computer programming in general :-)  I admit I have a distaste
for sorcerer imagery, in part (though not entirely) because it's been overused.
Moreover, I think it's a case where what people get out of the logo and/or
mascot may not be what we think we've put into it.  If I saw a sorceress as
a logo for something called Ruby (programming language or whatever), I would
probably think first of witches and ruby slippers :-)  The logo/mascot can
only bear a certain amount of the burden, and I think that if it tries to be too
assertive or promotional -- or if it takes the form of a sort of rebus that
people are supposed to decode in order to find out what Ruby is like -- it can
backfire.

> Besides, Ruby is a girl's name (if you rule out, in the US, Jack) :-)

I'm starting to think that's an unfortunate coincidence :-)  Am I the only one
who dislikes the idea of a kind of pet girl/woman named "Ruby" associated with
Ruby?


David

-- 
David Alan Black
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