Emin Jofit wrote:
No one should be offended by the word "slave"....
Umm... ok. But I'm not saying the
word is evil, or itself offensive. However, I think most people would agree "being one" is not a good place to be.
But the original post was not about how my Pokemon "feel" about the term. It's about how
I feel about the term. I wouldn't -- even jokingly -- call an actual person working for me or helping me out somehow "my slave". If slavery was still allowed somewhere in the world, and some distant, slave-owning relative of my died and left me their slaves, I would be mortified to know that I now actually own another human being. The whole institution is a pretty ugly part of human history. Really.
Heck, I own my pets -- probably a good analogy to Pokemon, as the are critters that I own, and could give away or trade as I see fit -- but I still wouldn't call them "slaves".
Now the fact that I so strongly against using the term for my silly digital Pokemon inside my silly DS, well, THAT might be a bit oversenstive, I admit!
Anyway, I'll continue to call my specially trained Pokemon "specialists".... although I do like "HM Hunk"!!! (Although I think my Bibarel is a female.... I guess I could call her my "HM Babe". Interestingly: that term doesn't bother me as sexist in the slightest! LOL...)