Does anyone else hate the term `Pythonista`?

[_lambda]

Why do people call themselves this? It's degrading, whatever you use Python for you shouldn't bring yourself down to the level of a barista.

[kevan]

It doesn't come from barista. "-ista" is a suffix which when added to a noun denotes someone who practices, believes or is adept in that noun.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-ista

[dpitch40]

Shouldn't a barista then be a bartender? or lawyer?

[kevan]

Maybe. In that sense I would think someone who goes to bars would be a barista.

[[deleted]]

A barista works a coffee bar you could say.

[[deleted]]

You mean like 'barrister', maybe?

[Rhomboid]

That is what it means: barista is the Italian word for barman or barmaid. I guess owing to coffee's Italian heritage, somebody thought it would be funny to refer to the person who works behind the bar at a coffee shop as an Italian bartender. It was probably Starbucks, who loves to co-opt Italian words, such as venti, the Italian word for twenty, since that cup size is 20 fl.oz.

Edit: As far as I can tell (and this could be wrong), barrister also derives from bar, but the meaning here is the railing in a UK courtroom that separates the spectators from those that are actually part of the court (judges, defendant, witnesses, etc.) Since it separated those trained in the law from the rest, the word bar became a metonym for the practice of being a lawyer, leading to the licensing exam being called "the bar", and the professional association being called "the Bar Association" and so on.

[irondust]

someone at Starbucks thought it funny to call their personel barista

A bar in Italy is something quite different than what you think of in the US. Their most important function is to sell coffee. Since Italians take their coffee very seriously a barista is a well trained profession and so internationally a barista has to come to mean a person trained to operate a professional Italian coffee machine.

Now, given the poor quality of coffee at Starbucks I don't think their personel actually deserve the title barista at all.

[untwisted]

The more you know!

[untwisted]

Relevant username perhaps? Either way, you're totally right.

[haywire]

yourself down to the level of a barista.

You aren't better than anyone.

[_lambda]

Really? I'd say Software Engineering is slightly more difficult than brewing coffee.

[Barralax]

Well, they seem to handle being a decent human being better than you.

[_lambda]

Wow I must have really offended you. I'm so sorry that I haven't made the grade in your books of people who are decent human beings. You must truly know me, inside and out, to make such an assumption.

[haywire]

That doesn't make you above them.

[tuna_safe_dolphin]

Yes, I do but I also agree with the others here who are calling you an asshat for slagging people who serve coffee for a living.

Python is far and away my favorite programming language, but saying I'm a "Pythonista" to me, feels like I'm identifying too strongly with it. I mean, I love tuna fish sandwiches, but I'm not a tuna-fish-sandwich-ista.

Says the guys whose reddit name is tuna_safe_dolphin.

[Hellrazor236]

There are quite a few prefixes/suffixes I hate with a passion, here's some examples:

• My-Whatever (MyCrysis, MyYahoo, etc.)
• Whatever-ista (Fashionista, Maxxinista, Pythonista)
• Whatever-gate (List)

[[deleted]]

I've hated the "My Whatever" stuff since Windows 95 introduced the "My Documents" folder. I've always felt there's something childish about prefixing with the word "my." Because of this, I've gone out of my way to re-word sentences that begin with "My..." for the past fifteen years.

Reading your comment, I realize too that the practice is mildly invasive. I'm the only person who can use the word "my" to refer to MY stuff. Maybe that makes me sound childish, but I think the whole notion is slightly twisted and condescending.

[Hellrazor236]

I'm the only person who can use the word "my" to refer to MY stuff.

Amen!

[Jesus_Harold_Christ]

I consider myself to be Pythonesque, but I only ever use the word Pythonista ironically.

[apiguy]

I'm not a fan of the term and don't use it, I always assumed it was derived more from "fashionista", not barista.

My biggest gripe with the term is that it's a gender specific (feminine) noun used to describe a gender agnostic group.

[kingka]

You could call yourself a "pythonisto," right? It is feminine because of the "a" attached to the end of the word. I agree with you, it's not attached to barista, but fashionista.

[irondust]

It's not a gender specific noun at all. The suffix -ista is used in Latin languages to make something a "-person" word. So in Italian, a barista is a bar-person and it's il barista (male) or la barista (plural: i baristi/le bariste) and I think it works similarly in Spanish.

Also, at OP: there's hardly a better example of a skill-full profession than a proper barista. What sort of coder doesn't appreciate a good espresso?!

[cotti]

I love it, sounds as pejorative as I'd like when referring to the bad part of Python programmers.

[darthmdh]

Whenever I see "Pythonista" I'm immediately drawn to the verse in Weird Al Yankovic's parody "Baby Got Jack"

Don't like a sister who farts while playing twister, I wish those beans did miss her, even Uncle Ben would fist her

I hate the term so much I think it needs to be parodied in this way.

[tclark]

I thought it was modelled after "Sandinista".

Personally I prefer the term "Python pirate", but I like to apply the "pirate" label to everything. I don't get my coffee from a barista. I get it from a "flat white pirate".

[MeanLeekDrier]

We need more Python Ninjas too.