Messages in this thread | | | From | Arvind Sankar <> | Date | Tue, 7 Jul 2020 17:48:04 -0400 | Subject | Re: [Ksummit-discuss] [PATCH] CodingStyle: Inclusive Terminology |
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On Tue, Jul 07, 2020 at 01:54:23AM -0700, Kees Cook wrote: > On Tue, Jul 07, 2020 at 06:56:53AM +0000, Harrosh, Boaz wrote: > > Kees Cook wrote: > > > I have struggled with this as well. The parts of speech change, and my > > > grammar senses go weird. whitelist = adjective noun. allow-list = verb > > > noun. verbing the adj/noun combo feels okay, but verbing a verb/noun is > > > weird. > > > > > And just using "allowed" and "denied" doesn't impart whether it refers > > > to a _single_ instance or a _list_ of instances. > > > > > But that's all fine. The change is easy to do and is more descriptive > > > even if I can't find terms that don't collide with my internal grammar > > > checker. ;) > > > > But why. In English many times a verb when it comes before the noun means an adjective, or an adjective like, describing some traits of the noun. > > This is kind of my problem being a native English speaker: I can't > entirely describe _why_ a grammar construct feels wrong. :( > > > Example: > > I work - work is a verb here. > > I used the work bench. - Work is saying something about the type of bench, an adjective. Same as you would say "I used the green bench". > > Right, so the verb-noun being used as a noun is find, just as adj-noun > is. To me, "add it to the allow-list" is entirely sensible just like > "set it on the work-bench." It's the "verbing" of a noun that trips me > up. > > "I will whitelist the syscall" -- sounds correct to me (same for > "it is whitelisted" or "it is in whitelisting mode"). > > "I will allow-list the syscall" -- sounds wrong to me (same for > "it is allow-listed" or "it is in allow-listing mode").
I suspect it's at least partly because "allow" and "list" are both verbs -- in fact, "list" is the actual verb in "I will allow-list it", and "allow" is being used to modify the verb "list". But because "allow" is usually a verb, the sentence sounds like there are two verbs in there when there should only be one. I expect our ears will get trained to accept that sentence once you encounter "allowlist" often enough.
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