http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=504323


in reply to A Level Playing Field

I'm going to join in the whining about some of the new titles. Neglecting their Western European Christian leaning, some of the ordering seems to be ...odd...

Grand Inquisitor seems more like a job title than a rank. I'm not sure I'd want my rank to have connotations of being a high-level torturer; Inquisitors were also battlers agains orthodoxy, which seems, to me, to be more appropriate for a bondage-and-discipline language like Ada. "Beadle" is a minor religious official, but Pilgrim isn't even that -- it's just somebody on a pilgrimage (and we're all on a pilgrimage to greater Perl wisdom, no?)

Of course, getting no less than 28 rank titles is non-trivial, so I'd merely suggest replacing Grand Inquisitor with Primate and swap Saint and Pope. And maybe renaming Pilgrim to "Evangelist"...

emc

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Re^2: A Level Playing Field
by graff (Chancellor) on Nov 01, 2005 at 04:45 UTC
    I totally agree that there's a problem with "Grand Inquisitor" -- I might be inclined to slow down or suspend my contributions to the Monastery if I were getting close to assuming that title (not like that's going to happen any time soon, but still), because for me the connotations of the term are heinous, and I'd be embarrassed to see it next to my name.

    I'm not sure about "Primate" though -- that term has a whole 'nuther problem of connotations... And "Evangelist"? Ick. "Beadle" is actually kinda cute (like, I'm picturing floppy ears, short legs and a cold, wet nose...)

    I think if we're going to put a "Pilgrim" above a "Monk" (which I'm perfectly willing to accept), why not set a "Prelate" above a "Cardinal"? (According to my dictionary, "prelate" is simply a vague term for any high-ranking church official, but perhaps no one would be offended by "redefining" the term this way.)

    Or better yet (as suggested in one strong dissent, it would probably be just as well to remove this extra level completely and move the higher levels down a notch -- it's currently unoccupied, so what difference would it make, really?

      Removing an unused rank that I'm not even close to? None to me.

      I kind of like "Primate" as one of the ranks; after all the Archbishop of Canterbury is the Primate of the Anglican Church. I can see, though, that "Primate" does have sort of a genus-istic slant that may not be politically correct. "Patriarch" (for the monks who identify themselves as female, "Matriarch" could be substituted) doesn't seem to be used, though. Sure beats "Grand Inquisitor" in my eyes...

      "Evangelist" seems to have become a bad word thanks to certain nameless people who claim Christianity as their private preserve.

      emc